Bridging the generation/urban v. rural gap

[Page Stephens]

Kick the can as we played it in rural southern Illinois in the '40s and '50s
was a combination of hide and seek and tag. The person who guarded the
can--we used a tin can--would hide his eyes and count as I recall to 20
while the rest of the players would run and hide.

They would then try to sneak in and kick the can before the guard could tag
them. If they succeeded then they became the next guard of the can. If he
managed to tag them all before they kicked the can then he won.

At least that is how I remember the rules.

We also played informal games like the one James describes but we never
called the kick the can.

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Smith" <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 6:25 AM
Subject: Re: Bridging the generation/urban v. rural gap


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Bridging the generation/urban v. rural gap
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> As a youth in Salt Lake City in the 50's, "Kick the
> Can" was just kicking a can or some similar object
> while walking somewhere.  It was a game more like
> "keep-away" than soccer, that is, no teams or goals or
> score-keeping.  However, sometimes loosely defined
> "teams" with fluid loyalties might evolve if there
> were more than two players, goal areas could become
> continuously redefined as the game progressed along
> the way, and I'm sure some kept some kind of scorecard
> in their head.
>
>
> --- "Kathleen E. Miller" <millerk at NYTIMES.COM> wrote:
> > 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
>
> =====
> James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
> South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
> jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
>                                |or slowly and cautiously.
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
> http://calendar.yahoo.com