Welcoming Committee (Halloween)

[gunsofchekhovia]

Well, howdy, neighbor! Nice ta meetcha!

Yeah, it’s a real quiet neighborhood.

I hate to spring this on you so soon after you moving in, but this is “need to know.” The kids here, they’re different. And they love Halloween, ‘cause they get to roam around without masks on. You gotta have those taffies with the razorblades and the rat poison crunchy bars. My wife’ll email your wife the recipe.

Trust me. When you open the door and see those horrible, infinite eyes and that slavering mouth, you’ll give treats and know you don’t want to see what “trick” means.

[pondspider]

Learnt a new word, "taffies"

I'm a little confused about the final sentence and, being 'ere in good ol' England (say it with a fake Cockerney accent, a la Dick van Dyke), I'm not entirely familiar with the Trick-or-Treat protocols.

I always thought the "trick" was something the householder did, e.g. to give the caller a bag full of laxative sweets. I may have acquired this false notion from a Charlie Brown cartoon.

I'm beginning to come round to a different reality: the caller plays a trick on the householder if no treats are forthcoming.

Would someone who knows about these things please enlighten me?

[Sunner]

you are correct. The trick would be played by the kids if there was no treat. Typically toilet papering a house, soaping a car, etc... having said that, that part of the tradition seems to have gone away and I have not heard tricks being played in a very long time. I suspect that most kids are out for the bulk candy and will just move onto the next house and not waste the time.

[pondspider]

Thanks for clarifying

So it's Charles M. Schulz's fault....

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

[unseentangerine]

I need to start using the word slavering more often.

[strawman]

I'm a little confused about the final sentence and, being 'ere in good ol' England (say it with a fake Cockerney accent, a la Dick van Dyke), I'm not entirely familiar with the Trick-or-Treat protocols.Would someone who knows about these things please enlighten me?

I will enlighten you if you will enlighten me: Being from the "Land of Angles", why does no one ask the obvious, "Acute or Obtuse?"

[pondspider]

I'm a little confused about the final sentence and, being 'ere in good ol' England (say it with a fake Cockerney accent, a la Dick van Dyke), I'm not entirely familiar with the Trick-or-Treat protocols.Would someone who knows about these things please enlighten me?

I will enlighten you if you will enlighten me: Being from the "Land of Angles", why does no one ask the obvious, "Acute or Obtuse?"

You've reminded me of a Drabble/Twabble idea I had... (easily distracted, he goes off at a tangent, obliquely adjascent to the hypotenuse, while acutely aware of his vector of travel.... etc, etc.)

[SpareInch]

I will enlighten you if you will enlighten me: Being from the "Land of Angles", why does no one ask the obvious, "Acute or Obtuse?"

Who're you calling A Cute Anglo?

[pondspider]

I will enlighten you if you will enlighten me: Being from the "Land of Angles", why does no one ask the obvious, "Acute or Obtuse?"

Who're you calling A Cute Anglo?

Being yer typically self-deprecating Englander, I prefer to think of myself as obtuse.

[MonsieurMoustache]

Hmm, I grew up thinking the house usually gave you a Trick or a Treat. Rarely I did get a trick - a magician performed card tricks for each batch of kids, and someone else gave a box of candy with a note inside to the tune of 'Hah-hah, no candy for you, loser'. I think another time a man at the door asked if we wanted a trick or a treat and when we said trick, it was a guy in a mask creeping up behind you and shouting 'boo'. We got candy too at most of these places.