Things you can't believe used to be allowed/exist

[Simon96Taco]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Loved this game. The best part was the race to the wall.

Kids running as fast as they can straight at a brick wall, what could go wrong?

FTR, we called it any or all of Wall Ball, Red Ass or Bums Up.

Depending on what school (or province) I was in at the time, we called it Red Ass, Hot Ass, and Out.

[Zarley]

My grandmother taught me "eenie meenie miney moe" with its original lyrics. I still remember the look of shock on my kindergarten teachers face when she heard me correcting some of the other students.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by sketchyt

I've met seniors whose grandparents were allowed to be owned. It blows my mind how the practice of slavery in first world nations ended not that long ago.

My friend (30 something) has a living grandfather who was once a slave. In Trinidad I believe

[Coach]

Originally Posted by sketchyt

I've met seniors whose grandparents were allowed to be owned. It blows my mind how the practice of slavery in first world nations ended not that long ago.

There are still first world slaves, we just put them in other places now.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by McG

wooden spoons, leather belts, and multiple hits to the head, back, and butt.

all in the name of child discipline, and I've had more than my share of them all.

Then you probably recognize this.

[JD]

In NE Calgary schools in the 80's, we called it Murderball.

Go figure!

[Manhattanboy]

Back in the day my brother would tell me stories of what it was like at U of C in Engineering. The large majority of students were guys and the big week was Queen Week when among other things the appointed queen would ride Lady Godiva style and be paraded around campus. And often times when female students from other faculties would walk through the engineering building some of the guys would have cards with numbers 1 through 10 and they would hold up the cards as the girls walked by rating their appearance.

[Manhattanboy]

In our junior high school the janitor had Playboy centerfolds taped to the wall of his office. Yup true story.

[gargamel]

We used to play a game called "Smear the Queer" in elementary school in the late 80s. Basically, there was one ball and whoever had it was "the queer." Everyone would chase/attack the one with the ball until someone could take it away, then he became the queer and we'd attack him. It was horribly homophobic (though I doubt any of us even knew what a gay person was) and not at all fun. No idea why we played it.

[CliffFletcher]

I wonder what things kids see and do today they'll look back on with horror 30 years from now.

[GGG]

People being allowed to drive their own cars will be the big one

[OutOfTheCube]

One year at summer camp I invented an initiation type game called 'Cold Balls' (it was very literal). Basically you'd get dragged over and pinned down under the ground well we had and have freezing cold ground water pumped over your croch for an indeterminate amount of time. It caught on, and the counsellors would just watch and laugh. Pretty sure some participated too. Don't think you'd get away with it now lol.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Then you probably recognize this.

My teachers had leather ones.

[FlamesAddiction]

I remember the good ol' wooden spoon and getting "lickens". That word practically out of use these days. One time I did something bad and thought hiding all the wooden spoons before my mother came home would be a good idea. That is when I learned that wooden spoons are way easier on you than a spatula.

My dad had a belt that he hung on the hook right in the living room and would just point to it when we were being bad. I don't recall him ever using it, but it was a constant threat.

[Nage Waza]

Originally Posted by getbak

Hull did it for an All-Star game, but Greg Smyth of the Flames did it in a few actual games. I don't think he made it more than a few games before he decided to put a helmet back on.

This is true, and he sported what is completely unacceptable now and quite possibly the worst mustache in league history.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

One time I did something bad and thought hiding all the wooden spoons before my mother came home would be a good idea. That is when I learned that wooden spoons are way easier on you than a spatula.

I tried the same thing by hiding "the stick" (~18" piece of narrow baseboard). Found out that my plastic hockey stick hurt way more.

I can't believe we used to get beaten with belts and spoons and sticks. I just can't even think of something my kid could do that would make me hit her with my hand, let alone a stick. Not that I resent my parents for it, but just no way I'd ever do that.

Smoking in the car and in the house is another thing. And getting sent to the store to get my mom cigarettes. With a note. lol. I do admit that there was no way in hell I could write as perfectly as my mother, so the guy at the store had no problem selling them to me.

[habernac]

I remember gatherings at my uncle's house where there were 40+ people in the house and the only people not smoking were my parents. Just a thick haze all through the house, the window would be open a crack if it was winter (all the windows open in the summer).

[socalwingfan]

My friend who lived a couple of houses down, his dad kept a leather strap hanging on the wall in the kitchen - and he was not shy to use it.
In elementary there was a movie for the safety patrols - the theater was downtown and me and my friend were allowed to make the trip from Willow Park to downtown by ourselves. Think we took a couple of buses - using the old transfer ticket which was a piece of paper rippeed off at the expiration time

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by socalwingfan

My friend who lived a couple of houses down, his dad kept a leather strap hanging on the wall in the kitchen - and he was not shy to use it.
In elementary there was a movie for the safety patrols - the theater was downtown and me and my friend were allowed to make the trip from Willow Park to downtown by ourselves. Think we took a couple of buses - using the old transfer ticket which was a piece of paper rippeed off at the expiration time

Still in use today! An astounding piece of technology.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Kids played with mercury when i was a child.

300 years ago, educated people drank mercury for medicinal purposes

the evidence is still out on its effectiveness