Trick or Treat ?

Mike Willcox1
Mike Willcox1 Posts: 311
edited November 2007 in The bottom bracket
It's that bloody time of year again! I must be getting grouchy in my old age but I fail to see the fun of idiots dressing up to look ridiculously hideous knocking on my door asking for a hand out.

P1SS OFF

Comments

  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    It's that bloody time of year again! I must be getting grouchy in my old age but I fail to see the fun of idiots dressing up to look ridiculously hideous knocking on my door asking for a hand out.

    P1SS OFF

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    A friend of mine makes himself look even more hideous than the trick or treaters and when they knock on his door he invites them in.
    They always scarper pretty quick.
  • I invested in a bag of fun-size chocolate bars only to have zero visitors on the night itself. Figuring that this might happen, I made sure I bought decent-quality sweets just in case I ended up having to scoff them all myself. Oh, the hardship....

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • mr_hippo
    mr_hippo Posts: 1,051
    A tip for next year, give them all chocolate - ex-lax
  • McBain_v1
    McBain_v1 Posts: 5,237
    Living in a family area we had about three groups of kiddies come around. My little one (only 20 months) was a bit bemused by it all but had fun handing out sweets. Thankfully we had no callers after 8.00pm which let mini McBain get some sleep.

    I only really object to teenagers wearing a mask and a hoodie expecting cash handouts. For them it's time to dole out the chocolates injected with chlli powder, or the express laxatives :twisted:

    What do I ride? Now that's an Enigma!
  • It's like living in Victorian times with kids begging on your doorstep... ban it I say.
  • shazzz
    shazzz Posts: 1,077
    A friend of mine makes himself look even more hideous than the trick or treaters and when they knock on his door he invites them in.
    They always scarper pretty quick.

    He'll probably get locked up (or at least lynched) for luring kiddies into his house with the promise of sweeties...
  • Cunobelin
    Cunobelin Posts: 11,792
    I had a couple of kids stupidly jump out in front of me on the cycle track last night yelling "Trick or Treat"

    So I played the game.........................................

    Air Zound on full blast and "TRICK" at the maximum voice volume.

    They got out of the way!
    <b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
    He that buys flesh buys many bones.
    He that buys eggs buys many shells,
    But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
    (Unattributed Trad.)
  • ivancarlos
    ivancarlos Posts: 1,034
    What I hate about it is its another example of the creeping americanisation of this country.
    I have pain!
  • I quite like it and get into the spirit, taking my Grand daughter round (shes 4). Don't mind giving sweets out to little 'uns who have got dressed up. Teenagers with a mask who just stand at door with hand out expecting money spoil it for the rest. I have the same opinion of teenage carol singers who only know the first 5 words of silent night/Good King Wenceslas/Rudolph the red nosed reindeer/etc.
  • Send it back to America where it belongs!
    It's "Mischievous Night" over here, nip round to some bugger's house you don't like, wrap a dog turd in newspaper, put it on their doorstep, light it, ring doorbell and run away!
    Not that I ever did such a thing when I were a lad!wink2.gif
    Remember that you are an Englishman and thus have won first prize in the lottery of life.
  • El Capitano
    El Capitano Posts: 6,401
    We had loads and loads of little kids call at our house, mainly because Mrs C. works in the local primary school and all of her class know where we live!

    We dressed up, had loads of lit pumpkins in the windows etc. We just use it as an excuse for have a bit of fun, then a party in the house later for the adults.
  • on the road
    on the road Posts: 5,631
    Some people obviously take it too far.
  • Does it mean you give the kids a trick or a treat? or what? One neighbour of mine insists that the give him a song/poem etc. before he gives them anything. A colleague of mine on the other hand is looking for some kind of automatic sweet dispenser which he can install at his front door at Hallowe'en
  • kaacp
    kaacp Posts: 93
    Send it back to America where it belongs!

    Ahem! Perhaps you might like to throw your eye over www.history.com or a host of other websites (extract below). Halloween belongs firmly on this side of the Atlantic. The old tradition in Ireland was to carve out turnips, which was adapted to pumpkins after all the emigration to the USA.

    Personally I hand out fruit and chocolate, never money. The only thing I don't like is the expression 'trick or treat', which I feel is imported. As a child, I always sang out 'Help the Halloween party! Any apples or nuts?'

    Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

    The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
    ***********************
    Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.
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  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,098
    I invested in a bag of fun-size chocolate bars only to have zero visitors on the night itself. Figuring that this might happen, I made sure I bought decent-quality sweets just in case I ended up having to scoff them all myself. Oh, the hardship....

    David

    Muhahahaha :twisted: we did that too, we got through 3 bags, only gave away a handful... :lol:

    Am now riding extra fast to make up for calorific over-indulgence

    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • on the road
    on the road Posts: 5,631
    I don't bother answering the door, they soon get fed up and go away.
  • Random Vince
    Random Vince Posts: 11,374
    the advantage of a 1st floor flat with no door bell,

    no one other than my friends know how to get to my door without ringing me first.

    i was at my gf's which is in a student area and upon hearing "they must be in, they've got lights on" i didnt answer the door!

    I dont aggree with halloween because of my beliefs but dont mind children knocking on the door for sweets, as people have said, the kids in a £1 mask from the pound shop scrounging for sweets and money need a slap.
    My signature was stolen by a moose

    that will be all

    trying to get GT James banned since tuesday
  • tatanab
    tatanab Posts: 1,283
    Let's see if I get my ENGLISH history correct.

    It is true that Halloween was celebrated. However, after Guy Fawkes tried to blowup parliament, the Protestants wanted to rub the Catholic noses in the failure and so wanted a celebration. They (the church) took the old pagan celebration of halloween and shifted it a bit to become bonfire night.

    Therefore, in England at least, halloween was replaced by bonfire night.

    Only 10 years or so ago in England halloween would have passed unremarked. However it has been adopted and twisted by the Americanisation of this country. If we are now to have to endure "trick or treat" does it mean that bonfire night can fade into distant memory and we will no longer have to endure a month of noisy evenings with firework explosions?

    Yes I am a miserable so and so.
  • Guising in Scotland is brilliant though, no crappy 'trick or treating' - it was all about earning sweets etc by telling jokes, singing, getting dressed up - really good fun for both kids and adults too I reckon as they get a bit of entertainment rather than threats.

    I don't know if things have changed - I left Scotland aged 7 and Hallowe'en has been disappointing ever since for me.

    Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster
  • Halloween, good old English festival, well, Celtic to be exact, originally Samhain, one of the four major celebrations with Beltain, Lammas and Candlemass, all more or less pinched by the incoming Christian religion.
    Trick or treat, American corruption of it.
    I'm all for Halloween! OK, any excuse to dress up, get drunk & party!
    Remember that you are an Englishman and thus have won first prize in the lottery of life.
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    A colleague of mines wife made up two bowls.

    1 contained sweets, the other contained apples and oranges with £1 coins sellotaped to the bottom of them.

    0 was the number of pieces of fruit taken by the chocolate greedy kiddywinks. haha
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    We had lots and lots of polite young kids turn up at the door, all accompanied by parents (although maybe 2 groups of older but polite kids).

    All made an effort, all turned up at a reasonable time...no problem ! Almost ran out of sweets......

    I have two young kids and they went round a few houses with friends, but I live on an estate full of kids, so what else to expect eh !!!

    Chill out you miserable lot..............
  • Random Vince
    Random Vince Posts: 11,374
    tatanab wrote:
    Let's see if I get my ENGLISH history correct.

    It is true that Halloween was celebrated. However, after Guy Fawkes tried to blowup parliament, the Protestants wanted to rub the Catholic noses in the failure and so wanted a celebration. They (the church) took the old pagan celebration of halloween and shifted it a bit to become bonfire night.

    Therefore, in England at least, halloween was replaced by bonfire night.

    Only 10 years or so ago in England halloween would have passed unremarked. However it has been adopted and twisted by the Americanisation of this country. If we are now to have to endure "trick or treat" does it mean that bonfire night can fade into distant memory and we will no longer have to endure a month of noisy evenings with firework explosions?

    Yes I am a miserable so and so.

    sorry, 10 years ago i was 13 and remember people going trick or treating back when i was in junior school
    My signature was stolen by a moose

    that will be all

    trying to get GT James banned since tuesday
  • Jeff Jones
    Jeff Jones Posts: 1,865
    To avoid having to answer the door, just go on one of these: http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/a-mob-of-ghouls-and-some-scrumpy-13030

    It was fun :twisted:
    Jeff Jones

    Product manager, Sports
  • pjm-84
    pjm-84 Posts: 819
    Cost me around £20 the other night in loose change as I forgot to go out and get some sweets.

    I did buy loads of sweets last year and no one turned up. This year everyone was out in force!! I'm sure there must have been a sign placed outside my door. It started off at a £1 a kid but then I ran out of pound coins and the wife knocked it back to 50pence each.
    Paul
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Only dad was in so the pile of sweets mum left for guisers have ended up in my "possession"
    Do Nellyphants count?

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  • Kaacp wrote:
    Send it back to America where it belongs!

    Ahem! Perhaps you might like to throw your eye over www.history.com or a host of other websites (extract below). Halloween belongs firmly on this side of the Atlantic. The old tradition in Ireland was to carve out turnips, which was adapted to pumpkins after all the emigration to the USA.

    Personally I hand out fruit and chocolate, never money. The only thing I don't like is the expression 'trick or treat', which I feel is imported. As a child, I always sang out 'Help the Halloween party! Any apples or nuts?'

    Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

    The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
    Ha, so the pumpkin just copied our turnip then? Excellent! Mind youm pumpkins are bigger and softer therefore easier to carve.