Seven Almost Forgotten School Devices

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Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!

As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!

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I was born in 1970 so went to junior high school in the early 80s and high school in the mid to late 1980s. These memories may be universal – made or done through the decades and not necessarily specific to one ten year block. I’m actually curious to know, so if you went to high school in a different decade, please let us know which of these you recall.

01. Paper Fortune Teller

First created from a 1928 Origami book, the fortune teller was an elaborately folded paper device that you would manipulate with your fingers. Wikipedia states that they were also called a “…cootie catcher, chatterbox, salt cellar, or whirlybird.”

The annoying and painful, Bobby Pin Snapper. (15minutelunch.com)

There were eight wedges that would be colored or numbered and each would have an answer or a message. The player would be asked what it was that they wanted an answer to. There were various formulas or cycles that the manipulator would utilize to come to the answer. Sometimes it would as simple as asking for a number and a color. Other times, the number of letters in the color, would determine the number of times that the manipulator would cycle through the flaps.

Girls would as if certain boys liked them, or vice versa. You could ask if you were going to get caught and grounded, if you were going to get a good grade, or whether some good luck was coming your way. It’s amazing how much time could spent, and how much fun could be had, with such a simple device.

Want to make one and wax nostalgic? Maybe make an adult version? Here is a page with easy to follow instructions and pictures.

02. Bobby Pin Snapper

The bobby pin snapper, sometimes called a “bee stinger,” was the bane of girls throughout junior high school and high school. Every boy thought the way to a girl’s heart was to pick on her. So, if picking on her was how you “told” her that you liked her, causing her pain with a bobby pin snapper surely would send home the message.

In spite of the fact that it never worked, boys continued to believe in it. Many, red faced from being smacked or embarrassed, boys. The “smarter” boys would pick up on the failure of the device, so turn on one another in a free-for-all bobby pin snapper fight. Perhaps, in an attempt to show some machismo that would impress the girls.

Which, of course, also failed. So, we tried other things like pinching, throwing gum in hair, and physical stunts that usually led to injuring ourselves. All the while, simply carrying books or passing notes would have been sufficient. Pass that one along to any teen boys you know.

Want to make one and torture someone? Here are some easy to follow instructions.

03. Paper Popper or Snapper

The paper popper/snapper, or Chinese firecracker, was one that got you in less trouble than the previous snapper. You didn’t need to cause pain to anyone – at least, not physically. This one was used to torture people psychologically by either snapping it when they didn’t expect it and scaring the daylights out of them, or as a sort of juvenile form of waterboarding, by being super annoying with it.

There were two different kinds of poppers and instructions to make both can be found online. Want to make a paper snapper and perhaps stir up some old memories? This website shows you how.

One of many versions of the rubber band gun. (whstatic.com)

04. Rubber Band Gun

In a different time and era, you could bring squirt guns, dart guns, and a homemade rubber band gun, to school. No one was triggered. No one fled for safe space and demanded sensitivity training. These days, simply making a gun symbol with your fingers is enough to get you detention or suspended. In fact, there is even a case of a deaf child whose name in sign language used something that resembled a gun. That caused quit the commotion and he was told that he had to come up with a nickname of some sort. Apparently, histrionics and emotes won the day and no one within the school administration go the memo, that fingers shoot blanks.

Anyhow, rant over. The rubber band gun came in a variety of sizes. It could be a large one made with a 2×4 or it could be even made with a ruler. Later on down the road and after my time, people would actually carve pistol ir rifle shapes out of wood. Can you imagine the social justice warrior campaign, calls for boycotts, and demands for resignation on that one? Ethics probes left and right.

Want to make a rubber band gun and shoot the kids? Visit this website and have at them!

05. Pen Spitball Gun

The pen spitball gun was the best way to conceal a prank device. Looks like a pen, but is a weapon of gross destruction. These were best unleashed before the bell rang for everyone to sit down, or in between classes in the hallways. The sound was too much of a giveaway. Laughter would be had for shooting spittle soaked wads into people’s hair, on the back of their shirts, or anywhere they would stick.

The more diabolical boys would turn it into a pen blowgun by placing a needle or pin into the wad and inflict some pain. I’ve been on the receiving end of more than my fair share of these. No one managed to “shoot ‘yer eye out!”

06. Sipping Straw Popper

Perhaps the most addicting of the group – as anyone who gets excited when something arrives in the mail and includes bubble wrap knows all too well. Typically, these were set off during lunch time when straws were circulated, but anyone who was determined to be disruptive would bring some from home or grab more than one. These could be saved for later.

All one needed to do to scare someone, is to grab each end with a separate hand, twirl them around your fingers, and trap air in the center of the straw. Of course, this tied your hands up, so you would need a partner in crime to assist you. Place as close as possible to someone’s ear without them noticing, and your pal would flick the center of the straw and make a loud pop.

Many girls looked forward to having these pop an inch from their ears and asked lots of boys out on dates, right after.

07. Bread Clip Flicker

The final school device was the bread clip flicker. All one needed was a finger and as many of those little plastic clips used to tie a loaf of bread. They had two “teeth” and when you snapped one of the teeth off, you could wedge the remaining tooth between the flesh of your finger and the fingernail of your pointer or middle finger.

To fire it you just needed to place your thumb on the first joint of the finger that was “loaded” and create tension between both digits. Aim, fire, rejoice. Reload, rinse and repeat. The beauty of these is that they were silent when fired, you could pretend to have your head buried in schoolwork while it was in flight, so that when it hit its target – or even missed and smacked into something loudly – no one would suspect you. Assuming, you could stifle your chuckle.

Do you recall any of these devices? All of them? Do you remember any that didn’t make the list? Which of these was your favorite?

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About Joe Silvia

When Joe isn't writing, he's coaching people to punch each other in the face. He enjoys ancient cultures, dead and living languages, cooking, benching 999#s, and saving the elderly, babies and puppies from burning buildings. While he enjoys long walks on the beach, he will not be your alarm clock, because he's no ding-a-ling.

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2 comments

  1. We took single piece of paper and folded it to make a trianglel and hit back and forth across a school desk, the object to have it stop at the edge just far enough so that the opposing player could move his finger in an upward motion and make the trianglel “flip” up”. That was a touchdown. Some called that game Football or Flip. Another popular past time was bending a paperclip until it broke into 2 even pieces and holding a rubber band between your thumb and pointing finger to make a slingshot. This stung like crazy.

  2. I graduated from New Bedford High in 1972. We used to make liberal use of paper airplanes to throw around the room at each other or even at teachers. I got very good at making paper airplanes, and later my kids were amazed at how good my planes were. I’ll teach them to the grand kids when they get a little older-but not for school use. We actually had an assembly line in class where one kid would make them and one further on down would throw them.

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