What unique phrases or funny traditions did your school have?

We had a day called senior skip day in high school. It was the amount of days from graduation that was the year you would graduate. In other words, I graduated in 1976. So 76 days from graduation was our skip day. We all went to the town’s water tower and painted our year on the tower.

The university where I did my undergrad degree had some fun traditions. The freshmen all wore a beanie for the first week. There was some fun that week. There was a chant for the school that was mostly nonsense. I can do a pretty good job of reciting it even now. Lots of fun.

At high school basketball games we had an area up on the top row of the bleachers called the “Coffin Corner” it was mostly the nerds, They would bring an old klaxon from a Ford, it was mounted on a board. Every time our team made an important basket they would step on the horn. Only worked at home games

In high school we were allowed to take our guns, (target .22 lr) to school when we had Riflery class. If you did not have your own gun the school provided them. The teacher would hand out a box of 50 bullets to each of us when we got to class.
After class we kept our guns and any extra bullets in our lockers until it was time to go home.

Does that count as a funny tradition?

On the first day of every term the new arrivals would be chased across the grounds by the school leopard, they didn’t get far but it was hugely entertaining while it lasted.

@ucme. Had the new arrivals carried their guns to school, leopard hazing outcomes would have ended very differently. ;-)

@LuckyGuy Ah yes, but you forget we don’t carry guns over here in englandtown, we like our school kids to be mauled by wild cats not be victims of mass shootings you americanos favour.
We prefer our tragedies to have a touch of panache ;-}

@ucme. ;-) For the record, the guns-in-school pendulum has swung completely the other way. Nowadays, a kid will get pulled out of class for making a fist, raising his thumb and pointing his index finger at another kid since that vile act is interpreted as a threat.
“Back in my day” it was a privilege to take your gun to school. The student had to have good grades and no demerits for bad behavior. If you misbehaved, even a little, you could lose that right.
I’ve heard my old high school closed the indoor rifle range in the late 1970’s due to public pressure even though there was not one case of violence, property damage, or behavior problems in the decades it was open.

If a kid brings a gun to school today you can bet it’s not for a class assignment.

Stop the world I wanna get off

@ucme Did you ever see the Andy Griffith show from the early 1960s.. it was about a town called Mayberry. The Sheriff, Andy Taylor was a smiley guy who know everyone int he town by name. There was virtually no crime. The “town drunk” knew where Andy and Barney (Deputy Sheriff) hid the keys and would lock himself up in one of the jail cells so he could sleep it off.
Nobody locked their doors. It was kind of nice.
If you are ever in Western NY, stop by. You’d really enjoy it. Honest.

@luckyguy. My town was like that when I was a kid.

Ahem, bit before my time old boy but yeah, sounds chilled.

@ucme See if you can find an episode on Netflix or youtube. It’s worth it. Seriously you should consider a trip. It is a different world.

@chyna wasn’t it great! And I’ll bet every boy, and most girls, got a 22 rifle when they turned 12. Right?
BB gun at 8 – 10 years old. Red Ryder.

We also had frosh week. Where the junior high students threw eggs and wipped cream at the elementary school students and the homes of teachers. For the first week of the school year.

@ucme. Here’s an early episode from 1960. See that cute kid? (Ron Howard, BTW). In real life that kid would have a BB gun at age 8 and a 22 rifle at age 12. He’s be shooting his dad’s service revolver at that age as well. One of his favorite activities at age 13— 14 would be shooting rats at the dump or quarry.
Dad would give him a box of 50 rounds of ammo and he’d shoot for hours. And not bother a soul or do any property damage.

I own some property in the Southern Tier and I’d take my sons and their friends to shoot all day. They loved it. One kid misbehaved one time (he shot in a direction he knew was off limits) and he was never invited again.

I wanted to push little Ronnie into the river & laugh as he breathed his last, police car was cool though, can just see myself driving around town in that siren howling.