C = Cooties

Monday, April 4, 2011

Yes, you read the title right, I need to know. What happen to Cooties? Did you not know someone when you were young that had “Cooties?” I knew lots of children with Cooties and yet, now I hear of none. What happen to cooties?

Do you remember cooties? Throughout childhood there was always at least one child that had this affliction and you steered clear. Not a bullying tactic as much as you did not want to catch cooties. The affliction did not last long and always got transferred to another child. So, did these children get, “HEALED?”

It has come to my attention that there seems to be no more cooties in the world. Children no longer suffer from this affliction, when did we eradicate cooties? If we did eradiate them, won’t that disrupt the eco balance of things?

Wonder if cooties took a self-survival approach and now lye dormant in many of the adults we pass daily? I know I have met some that are showing the symptoms. Do we have an adult vaccine in place for their re-emergence?

I don’t know about you, but I want some protection. I think the CDC should have a master list of, “Not a nice person, may have been exposed to Cooties.” At least I would feel informed.

Peace….

Technorati Tags: A-Z Challenge,Monday,Smile,Cooties,Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

58 comments:

Cruella Collett said,: Oh, I dunno. It seems to me plenty of people still have cooties, only now we have different names for it. Like "politician", or "lawyer", or "CEO" :P
Eliza said,: Please tell me what cooties are, I've never heard of it.
Siv Maria said,: Ha ha, I had forgotten all about cooties. What fun lets start a campagne to bring back cooties...LOL! Tag your it...Just gave you cooties.
mooderino said,: I wonder if they're on the endangered species list. I'm sure Bono and Sting would be happy to arrange a benefit gig (as long as they don't have to use any of their own money of course).
-mood
Moody Writing
RHYTHM AND RHYME said,: What is cooties? perhaps here in the UK it's known by another name,

Have a good day.

Yvonne.
Amie Kaufman said,: Ha! I'd forgotten about cooties! You used to be able to do a 'cooties lock' by making a ring with your thumb and your finger with both hands, and linking them together.
mooderino said,: btw I think the UK equivalent is the lurgy (or lurgie).
S.A. Larsenッ said,: Haha! This made me laugh and, yes, reminisce of a day gone by. lol
Li said,: Oh, yes, "cooties, no backs!" is alive and well in some parts of the US. :) And since girls mostly wear jeans/pants these days,the "I see London I see France" rhyme has disappeared as well.
Jennifer Shirk said,: Ah, yes, medical science seems to have made great strides in the cure for cooties. LOL
Liz P said,: I think Cooties was fading out even when I was a kid 20 years ago. Kids used it sometimes but I don't remember it being too rampant. It was more of an insult just to exclude someone from an activity. Or, just as a joke.

Kids are all "hip" and "edgey" now, like little mini teens. Saying Cooties probably isn't cool anymore.
Charmaine Clancy said,: I think Kids stopped catching Cooties and teachers got it instead ;-j
Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers
Vicki Rocho said,: Now you make me want to go out and find a "Cootie" game. Remember with the six legs? hahahaha.

Pssst. There's something waiting for you at my blog.
Manzanita said,: Ha... What a memory jagger. Right, when acting odd, it was just assumed "they" had cooties. And how true, they seem to have vanished.
Jeremy [Retro] said,: i could never understand the cooties game... if i don't like them, why would i want to play with them?
jeremy [iZombie]

explanation:
http://izombielover.blogspot.com/2011/04/c-is-for-comments-and-crazy-charlie.html
Laura M. Campbell said,: I agree. Cooties has disappeared from daily child discourse. I vaguely remember cooties when I was a child. Interesting...

Good luck with the challenge.
N. R. Williams said,: I got "cooties" regularly whenever I played tag. LOL
Nancy
N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium.
Summer Ross said,: LOL- My girls talk about it once in a while. :)
Talli Roland said,: This made me giggle, because I did know kids with cooties! I hope they've been healed.
Velvet Over Steel said,: Those that did not/do not know what cooties are.. well made me feel a little dated! :-/ ha...

What I'm actually afraid of is that the youth of today have meaning words for those that are different OR that those who kiss and tell have other things worst than the 'cooties' of our day. I'm taking this way to deep aren't I?! lol
Kathie said,: I heard my niece and nephew mention them once, so they're still around :-)
M.J. Fifield said,: Hysterical! I don't know what happened to cooties. I haven't heard any of my nieces bring it up. Maybe I'll ask them.

M.J. Fifield
My Pet Blog
Movies on my Mind said,: What's a Cootie?
Unknown said,: I think I have cooties. Oh no, I have coffee. Never mind.

Great post!
Roland D. Yeomans said,: You never hear of them because the sound of their names draw them.

Oops!

Sorry, Jules, but they're headed your way. But look at how many others you've gotten to use their name. Perhaps only a few will wind up on your doorstep.

Perhaps.

LOL. A great post. Roland
Blasphemous Aesthete said,: I heard about them only for the first time, but judging from the description I think I might want to rewind and become a child again, rather than grow up to get afflicted. :)

Cheers,
Blasphemous Aesthete
Jen said,: don't know if we should feel special or not lol, cooties still are thriving in the schools in FL...just ask my 7 yr old
Unknown said,: I work at a high school so i dont hear it much but I do remember playing the cooties game when i was young!

Teresa
Fangirl Next Door CLICK ME
Tracy said,: Yep, Cecil Carter had cooties; big time! and no one could give cooties if they'd gotten cooties from him :)
I'm actually very disappointed becasue my contacts are acting up today and I thought your post was 'C' for cookies...hahaha....
Tiger85 said,: LOL, I remember cooties but when I was little all the boys had them in the eyes of the girls and all the girls had them in the eyes of the boys. I don't know what happened to them either. I guess they have something else to fear now. =)

http://tigeronmybookshelf.blogspot.com/
Tiger85 said,: I know already posted a comment but I just wanted to say Jules you have a great sense of humor. I always enjoy reading your posts and comments. =)

http://tigeronmybookshelf.blogspot.com/
Golden Eagle said,: LOL. I don't know . . . I've heard people talk about them before, but not that often.
Unknown said,: I told one of my kids he had cooties and he looked at me like I'd grown a trunk. Definitely not in the younger generation's lexicon!
Gail M Baugniet - Author said,: I never knew anyone who actually had cooties but I do remember we accused everyone at one time or another!
The Words Crafter said,: Oh, this made me laugh! Nostalgia!!!

Boys always thought girls had cooties. There used to be a game, too. I think....

I like the politician explanation, lol!

Great post and thanks for making me smile!
Arlee Bird said,: I think cooties have been replaced by something parents might want to be more concerned about. Kids seemed to be growing up a lot faster that they did when I was young.

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Thanks.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge
Kathy said,: Ha,ha, hilarious post...good one for "C" alright. You r comments from folks are funny too...who knows whatever happened to cooties!!!
I found you with the ‘surprise me’ button. I’m a new follower of yours. I'd love to have you check out my take on the A to Z Challenge, comment and follow, if you'd like.
http://oaklawnimages.blogspot.com/
Kathy at Oak Lawn Images
Ella said,: I so remember cooties...the best looking guy in the 5th grade was my dancing partner. He came up to me to pinkie dance with me. Cuz I might have cooties...augh!!!! Now the freaky thang is.... The books that arrived in my mail today are HIS! Yup, He is the author of them there books! You say COOTIES and I'm 10 all over again. Dancing with the cutest boy in my school! How did you do that?! ;-D
Ann said,: Now there is a blast from the past. Too funny Jules! Boodies is what they are/where called in Ireland. I am assuming they are the same thing. Well related anyway. :)
Amy said,: I remember cooties! Love the cartoon!
Michelle in a shell said,: Cooties! I hadn't realized it until now but you're right- they seem to have disappeared! I had to explain the idea to my younger cousin the other day! Strange strange world that we live in...
Hold my hand: a social worker's blog said,: HAHAHAHA I wonder if there is a sort of "cooties and endangered bugs" museum... LOL

Doris
RosieC said,: HAHA! Yes, indeed, I think we all had cooties as children, or at least there were accusations of the person who had cooties. I think the larger question is, why did kids arbitrarily accuse others of having cooties? Was it because the boy at the girl's sandwich at lunch and she wanted revenge? Or because the boy secretly likes the girl and wants to hold her hand? Oh, the complexity of cootie politics!

Rosie
East for Green Eyes
doreen said,: I have not thought about cooties in so long. I would guess they have evolved into some designer affliction of the day. Like the common cold. People are really scared of the cold.
Thank you for making me smile.
Samantha Vérant said,: I just snorted my coffee...through my nose, not a good thing, but laughter is. OMG. I so love the word cooties! Do you remember the toy too?
Unknown said,: Oh I still know some people with cooties... I stick clear... I'm not catching it.
RHYTHM AND RHYME said,: Thanks for the comment Jules hope you're doing well in this small challange.......thought there would be more entries....lol

Yvonne.
Dan said,: As a medical professional, I can tell you the Cooties Virus, prevalent in many preadolescent children, is rendered inert by the significant chemical and hormonal changes caused by puberty.

This is seen by medical anthropologists as a human survival adaptation, as nearly 90% of all reported cooties cases seem to involve the opposite sex (regardless of the gender of the initial accuser).

Anecdotal evidence suggests, however, that cooties can lie dormant until later in life, when certain older adults can manifest the disease ("Don't go near old man Johnson. He's got cooties!")

Hope this helped!

Dan
Ju Dimello said,: Even I had no idea of what cooties are :) Might have to google them..

Following you from A-Z challenge!
Larri said,: What happens to Cooties? Why, they're put into the Cootie Catcher! Remember those? The little origami fortune tellers your friends made...asked you questions, and then opened & closed the Cootie Catcher to reveal your answer/fortune. Great 'C' post!
Corine Moore said,: Oh gosh... I remember the cooties very well! :) When I was a kid, my best friend used to talk about people having the "cooties" and I still can't hear the word without him popping in my brain. And when I was younger, I thought all boys had the "cooties." But now that you mention it, I never hear kids talk of them anymore, either. :o
Jerri Schlenker said,: I somehow escaped them, but first learned about them when I loaned my brush to someone in the fifth grade, and was later pulled aside.
Anonymoussaid,: Cooties seems like a minor, minor affliction compared to what's going around today.

I remember playing the game when I was young. I thought it was boring then and still do. But I think the very little children like it.
Ann Carbine Best’s Long Journey Home
Jayne said,: I've never heard either of my children mention Cooties. Nor our pediatrician. Seems it's been completely eradicated from the American lexicon. Yet I remember it so well in that little tar-topped school yard. Is there a vaccine now? ;)
Jilda said,: oh my word, I had totally forgotten about cooties!!!!! cannot believe you remembered them, well yes I can too.
50 foot QE said,: Exclusion is still practiced in ALL schools. It just has another name, usually not as nice as cooties.

Cooties sort of implies that you got it from someone else right? So you are not, innately unapproachable just a little infected with something.

It is always fun, too, if you have cooties to chase others around. That is what my cousin did- he always had cooties.
Tammy said,: Oh, cooties. I think they still exist, but kids don't know the name for it. Like, I can leave my coat on my chair unattended all day at school knowing NO self-respecting high school kid will ever take it. It's got teacher-cooties. :(
E. M. Prokop said,: Hey there! I'm a new follower..great blog! Now that you mention it..I don't know what happened to cooties! When I was a kid, everyone had cooties,(especially boys!)...and now cooties seem to have been eradicated by political correctness..