# Did you have a "stick" as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966 "2009-05-10T20:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/1 "2009-05-10T20:05:57Z")
Yes, a stick. As in a trimmed (with your own pocket knife) tree branch. I just saw a twelve year old (or so) boy walking down my street with a stick! All us kids, mostly boys, sometimes would pick up a suitable tree branch, trim it, and carry it around while hanging with our friends. It was good for swatting things, making lines in the dirt, pointing at dumb kids across the way, and all sorts of stuff like that. Also sword fighting, but that could get you yelled at. Best part is that it was expendable. If you had it at the top of a high cliff, you could throw it as far as possible and no loss. Just make another one. Have video games also meant the death of the stick? Boo! ☹ Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/2 "2009-05-10T20:24:41Z")
Always. Though my kid never will if we stay here in the desert :(. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/3 "2009-05-10T20:26:04Z")
I had one. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/4 "2009-05-10T20:35:57Z")
Oh, I had a lot of sticks. They never lasted very long, an important part in stick use involved the dog hanging from it. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Spoonful_of_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/5 "2009-05-10T20:40:12Z")
Whatcha mean as a kid? I STILL have a stick like that in my closet. I made it a few years ago. Just as much fun as I remember. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/6 "2009-05-10T20:43:59Z")
Yes, I had a stick. 12 seems a little old from one. I’m thinking more like 7 or 8. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/7 "2009-05-10T20:50:53Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Yes, I had a stick. 12 seems a little old from one. I’m thinking more like 7 or 8. Not for me. I had one from 7 or 8 like you say, then on up past 12 and up until I got my 1st car, I think. It has been a while. Maybe it’s time for a relapse, like **A Spoonful of Awesome** up there. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/8 "2009-05-10T21:18:35Z")
Wll, as an adult, you can afford a much better stick. 😛 And you can carry a much bigger one. Which reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt – maybe he meant that literally, instead of metaphorically like the historians say. Teddy was a pretty direct guy. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he had a big whuppin’ stick. ---
**Author:** ![Neverender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neverender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverender)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/9 "2009-05-10T21:27:17Z")
Hehe, I had sticks as a kid. I’d make one every scout camp. Last year, when I was in Student accommodation halls, we used to go out into the surrounding woods, get drunk and sing songs around a camp fire. I was still whittling spears out of sticks then! ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/10 "2009-05-10T21:34:10Z")
As a boy I was fortunate enough to live at the bottom of a logging main line road. I had free run of hundreds of acres of NW forest. Made sling shots, spears, forts, all kinds of stuff. Made some cash peeling cascara bark. I still live in the same spot but I only go into the forest in the fall hunting seasons now. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/11 "2009-05-10T22:06:20Z")
Oh yes, my thinking was you needed a weapon if attacked by dogs or other villenous creatures. I still carry the adult version when I take a walk from time to time. Something like this. [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.brazos-walking-sticks.com/images/product/as\_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.brazos-walking-sticks.com/free-form-aspen-walking-stick/&usg=\_\_kkdfYvd5aSgulxtxlRlMqP\_Plwo=&h=574&w=65&sz=6&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=JodshxVnbQIzZM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=15&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwalking%2Bstaffs%2B%252258%2Binches%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.brazos-walking-sticks.com/images/product/as_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.brazos-walking-sticks.com/free-form-aspen-walking-stick/&usg=__kkdfYvd5aSgulxtxlRlMqP_Plwo=&h=574&w=65&sz=6&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=JodshxVnbQIzZM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=15&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwalking%2Bstaffs%2B%252258%2Binches%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8) ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/12 "2009-05-10T22:29:01Z")
Absolutely. I had several through the years. They’d usually last a day or two, then we’d break it and it would be a while until we found the next one. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/13 "2009-05-10T22:53:51Z")
Yes. I still occasionally like a walking stick and I am middle aged. And, FWIW, I don’t use a walking stick like a cane. When I got a dog I had a good excuse for finding and “twigging” good sticks. Reminds me of the old chestnut: What’s brown and sticky? …random thoughts on sticks. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/14 "2009-05-10T23:18:25Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > What’s brown and sticky? Going in, or coming out? Wait, that’s a different one. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/15 "2009-05-10T23:25:16Z")
I don’t believe that I really had A stick. I remember playing with sticks, though. I also used to cut honeysuckle vines, peel off the outer layer, and shape them into various things. Fresh honeysuckle vines are quite pliable. I had several stones that I played with regularly. And my dad worked at a company that made boxes, and he’d occasionally bring boxes home for us kids. We had LOTS of fun with boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/16 "2009-05-11T00:08:21Z")
I used to have a length of PVC pipe that I’d use for pointing and dirt-drawing. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/17 "2009-05-11T00:28:20Z")
Hundreds of them over the years when I was roaming through the neighboring woods with friends. Of course, whenever my mother or father would get pissed off at me for one reason or another and say, “Go get me that stick!” it was never a good thing… ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/18 "2009-05-11T00:34:18Z")
> [@Soul](#): > > I used to have a length of PVC pipe that I’d use for pointing and dirt-drawing. Does that count? Sure! And you can use it as a blow gun with grapes or chinaberries. But don’t shoot at a board. You’ll put your eye out. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/19 "2009-05-11T00:43:59Z")
I had several ( whenever one broke I was quick to acquire another). Naturally I favoured those which would bend a long way without breaking, while being as long as possible. I loved being able to either make a magnificent thrashing sound against something solid, or slice the tops off a row of long grass with ease. I also like to think I had particularly good skill in finding high quality ‘sticks’ ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/20 "2009-05-11T01:15:19Z")
Yup, I did. My daughter does too sometimes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966.md?page=2)