Did other people play Elastics?

We called it that. We also played British Bulldog in co-ed teams, but only on the playground. I was almost always the smallest kid in class, so they put me between the two biggest kids so I wouldn't be an automatic weak link.

I broke my arm playing four square. Brutal game. Of course, I also slashed my foot all to hell playing basketball. I think maybe I'm playing these games wrong.

Um, what's four-square?

t /dumb question

I had a long email acquaintance with a colleague who was at that time at UWisconsin. Only after about 3 months did I speak to him on the phone and realize he was British!

Um, what's four-square?

Sheryl, here:

Hil R. "All Ogle, No Cash -- It's Not Just Annoying, It's Un-American" Feb 27, 2003 10:09:00 am EST

FWIW, I'd never heard of it, either.

Ok. I never played that. Red Rover, yeah. Dodgeball :shudder:, yeah. Variations on jumprope, yeah. Not four-square, though.

I played foursquare, a variant on Liz's version of dodgball, jumprope, this weird game where one kid swung a jumprope in a circle and we all had to jump over when it came around to us. The neighborhood I lived in 'til I was 5 was pretty free-range-- kids had the run of the street and most of the back yards, but there were a lot of us and it wasn't a big street. When I moved to the suburb I live in now, I was pretty much limited to my back yard and the woods behind it, but there was enough cool stuff there that I didn't mind.

My favorite game: Prisonball. In a gym, you throw head-sized Nerf balls at the opposite side. When you hit someone, they go to prison, which is behind your side, so you're sandwiched between. They get out of prison if they hit you. If you catch the ball someone throws at you or is trying to throw to their prison, they go to prison. It seems more interesting than straight dodgeball, but we never really played that.

Yes! I was just gong to mention that! We played it this way in middle school, and it rocked! The best part was, even if you were out, you weren't really out for good--you could always get back in again. We played it outside, though, with cones marking off the borders.

Four Square was practically the official game of our school--we played it almost religiously. We even had Four-Square courts painted into the concrete on our playgroud. There was always a mad dash at recess to claim the court.

I don't think I've ever played regular tag--we always played freeze-tag. Sometimes with the TV/Movie/Book/Whatever variation. Lots and lots of hide-and-seek, too.

God, we used to play Red Rover at recess in second grade...it was one of my favorite games. So much so that I decided to play it one day the first year I taught. Note to self--elementary games do not always translate well to big strong middle schoolers. They won't let go and they will get hurt.

The "dangerous" game we used to play was called Peg (or, sometimes, Wallball). Rules were simple: throw a tennis ball at the wall. Try to catch it as it bounced back. If you didn't catch it, but the ball touched you, you ran like hell to the wall, because whoever DID get the ball would try to "peg" you (hard!) before you touched the wall. It was eventually banned at school, which was a shame 'cause we had this lovely, windowless, 3-story-high brick wall facing the side yard...

It was eventually banned at school

They always ban the really fun ones.

Zoe, I'm foxed as to why you'd want to try translating your normal speech before posting things here. It sounds like it's causing you some moderate annoyance/confusion/irritation, but let me implore you not to put yourself through the hassle. It's needless, I swear. I mean, however far your spoken English may differ from RP, I'm sure you don't customarily write in wholly impenetrable broad Scots. (And I don't think you're a native Gaelic speaker, are you? Although the only Gaelic speakers I've known have all been wholly bilingual and said they didn't know anyone who wasn't fluent in English, so I'm assuming that's not the issue.) Although, you know, I reckon most of us would be able to fathom most of what you wrote even if you customarily wrote like Rabbie Burns, just so long as you stuck to it and gave us a chance to get the hang of it.

Actually, I know I'm quite often thrown by what you write - and if it's because you're going through some sort of haphazard translation process, that might explain it. (fwiw, I've lived in Scotland and studied in Scotland, and lived with Scots in London. My degree even covered a little Scots literature and a fair bit of Scottish History etc etc, although heaven knows I'm ignorant enough still. I don't think you need to translate your normal speech patterns for me.)

My point being, though, that provided you construct your sentences and arguments with reasonable clarity, the people here aren't going to be baffled by colloquial turns of phrase or unfamiliar words - there are, after all, plenty of dialects of English across the US, many of which are represented here. (And then there are the English, Scots, Australian, Spanish and Israeli posters, etc.) If you do use a word which is unfamiliar, or if it's something that has a different connotation (or even denotation) across the pond, they'll ask. And they'll be really chuffed to meet a new word or turn of phrase. Provided your language is consistent, then people will have the chance to take on board any dramatic ways in which it differs from their own - just as you do get used to someone's accent in everyday speech.