Bridging the generation/urban v. rural gap

[Kathleen E. Miller]

Hello All,

Where do you put "Kick the Can?"

DARE Question EE16 -- Hiding games that start with a special, elaborate
method of sending the players out to hide.
DARE Question EE18 -- Games in which the players set up a stone, a tin can
or something similar and then try to knock it down.
Or -- a type of street football/soccer where a tin can is shoved back and
forth until it was propelled across a "goal."

I scoffed at Safire's assignment on this "New York City specific" game and
told him "Hell, I played kick the can in rural Indiana in the mid-'70's,"
until I realized that 73-year old urban he and 33-year old rural me - were
talking about two totally different things.

Now I'm fascinated and confused. How do I tell the difference in a 1913 New
York Times hit without context?  The games obviously coexist  -- with some
other now-73 year old playing EE16 "Kick the Can" in rural Wisconsin while
Safire was playing option #3 "Kick the Can" in the Bronx. But, did the
games co-exist in the same place? Has anybody played both? The DARE hits
are all over the map.


Kathleen E. Miller
Research Assistant to William Safire
The New York Times