In Santa Barbara, where Wyatt went to school, all the kids were familiar with the joke, “what is black and white with read all over?” The answer was newspaper, and always bored the kids when they were asked it. Wyatt and the other kids started saying other answers to the play on words joke to make it literal.
“What is black and white with red all over?”
Some of the answers would be:
A Zebra with a sunburn
A Penguin in a blender
A Panda with lipstick
A Skunk in a bear trap
Or anything that involved a black and white animal that had red on him.
Even though the kids changed the joke to be more literal instead of being a pun, they did create imaginative and fresh new ways of telling the overly told joke. However, there were some violent answers thought of by the kids.
Author Archives: Wilson Knapp
Fish, Fowl, Animal
My friend Michael described a game that he and his family used to play on long car rides. The game would begin with a person thinking of the name of either a fish a fowl or an animal, and then would tell the guessers which category he picked. The other people in the car would ask yes or no questions that would lead them closer to the name of the fish, fowl, or animal. The people in the car would guess one by one going in a clockwise order. The guessers would continue to ask questions until they guessed the name of the animal. Even though the people guessing would be working together to guess the correct answer, the person who successfully guesses the animal would be the next to pick a fish, fowl, or animal. The game would repeat until they got to the destination or until they grew bored and moved onto another game.
Commandoes
John with his family and friends would play a game they called Commandoes that everyone in their neighborhood picked up and began playing as well. The game involved both parents and children playing. Parents were involved because the “finder” of the game needed to be driving a car or a gold cart, while the “commandoes” ran on foot. The game would work by everyone piling into the car or golf cart. The “finder” would drive the car to any location that he or she so choose, and then he or she would drop off the commandoes. The commandoes would then have to make it from the drop off location back to “home base” without being seen by the “finder” in the car. Home base would be any location that was agreed upon by everyone, but usually was a house. After the finder dropped off the commandoes at the drop off point, he or she would turn the car or golf cart around and drive away. The commandoes would wait until the car was out of site before they could start making their way to home base. The commandoes needed to be as stealth as possible, as they made there way through he streets. If the finder in the car spotted any commando, he would flash his lights and yell that he found you. The commando would hop into the car and join the finder in search of the remaining commandoes. The commandoes who made it to home base would win. The finder won if he or she found all of the commandoes before they made it to home base.
Commandoes was a game invented by one of John’s dad’s friends. They would usually play the game when there was a community beach bonfire. All the kids would want to participate and sometimes multiple parents would drive and be “finders” as well. The game allowed the kids to run around and burn out some energy, while the parents got to relive their childhood of playing hide and go seek, but to a more advanced level.
Lock the House for Scary Movies
Dylan and his friends always lock every door in their house and close every window before they watch a scary movie. They believe that if you leave a door unlocked or a window cracked, there is a high chance that something evil will come into their house. Before putting on any scary movie, Dylan in his friends need to lock the doors and windows or they cannot start the movie.
One night, which happened to be Friday 13th , which is known as a very unlucky night, Dylan and his friends forgot to lock all the doors before they watched a scary movie. Halfway through the scary movie, a burglar snuck into his house. The robber knocked over a lamp downstairs in the house. He left by the time Dylan and his friends made their way down the staircase to see who was there. Because the one time they forgot to lock all the doors in the house and a burglar came in, Dylan and his friends can never watch a scary movie again without checking to make sure that all the doors are locked and the windows are closed.
“Como Me Ves Te Veras”
A saying that Daniel and his family say is “como me ves te veras,” which means: how you see me is how you’ll be too. The significance of this proverb is that the person doing the looking is the only one perceiving. Therefore, how you look at someone reflects a part of yourself. Daniel’s parents or grandparents would say this to him when he they caught him negatively judging someone else. They would say it in order to express that when you judge others, you are judging yourself.
Another proverb that Daniel and his family use is: “perro que ladra no muerde,” which means the dog that barks doesn’t bite. Usually the animal who speaks up or yells the most is putting on a front. He is showing aggression but won’t usually take action.
Both of these proverbs speak a good amount of truth to them. These proverbs in Daniel’s family helped establish some of his morals growing up.