# Fun Things To Do In Public **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249 "2001-08-27T00:03:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/21 "2001-08-27T19:15:30Z")
But Cranky, this is more fun. Try it some time. Walk up to a perfect stranger, stare them in the eye, and declare: “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The teeth that bite, the claws that catch! Beware teh Jubjub bird and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” ---
**Author:** ![Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e95f7d/32.png) [@Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Magic-Gro_Monster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/22 "2001-08-27T19:26:54Z")
In a crowd sudenly so a spastic little “hey! Theres a bee!” dance. Sometimes you can get other folks to join in or flinch. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/23 "2001-08-27T19:42:02Z")
Stage a Highlander-esque duel with umbrellas. Make very sure that you’ve got plenty of space, and hopefully confederates to help keep people out of the way (and to explain to campus cops that it’s “performance art” if you happen to do it in a university quad). ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/24 "2001-08-27T21:43:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\*I’ve never quite understood why the “Let’s mess with people’s heads!” thing was such a delightful pasttime for people. > > Do something useful, fer chrissakes. Go sit down and talk to a homeless person and fight out about his/her life. Pick up litter. Go to the library and read about the history of Mennonite quiltmaking in central Indiana. SOMETHING. \*\* I have known this kind of stuff as “guerrilla theater” and I consider it a valid art form. I have heard guerrilla theater discribed as “theater where the audience doesn’t know they are your audience.” At the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts, where GT was a course offered, the final project usually involves going to the local Walmart and protesting child labor by doing things like loudly proclaiming “Gee, those Tawianese children’s small little fingers sure do make nice tight stiches!” and the like. Rearrange the furniture section so it looks like a livingroom, and hang out. That sort of thing. It’s grassroots social activism, and I think it’s grand. Anything that makes people think, ponder and stretch is, in my opinion, doing something. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/25 "2001-08-27T21:54:59Z")
Ah… the ‘freak out the old people’ game… Say the most shocking thing when passing the elderly, but make it sound like the middle of a conversation. I had the all-time winning line with: I mean I can understand she aborted it, but to bronze the fetus afterwards!?! ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Doll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Broken\_Doll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Doll)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/26 "2001-08-27T22:11:05Z")
Ah yes. This is one of my favourite passtimes. My friend and I [back in our deathly goth days] used to sit on a crowded train and have a deadpan, completely believable conversation about eating babies and having satanic masses. It would go a little something like this: Her: Ahhhh…nice day we’re having Me: Yeah, sure is. Say, did you pick up the goat’s head we ordered? Her: Oh shit. I forgot. I’ll do it when we get home Me: [getting slightly panicky] But you can’t! The shops are closed! And the ritual is tonight! Oh man, now Satan is going to be SO pissed off! [I start fake crying, she consoles me, people move from our end of the train to the other, we burst into giggles]. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/27 "2001-08-27T23:46:22Z")
Some years ago (early '90’s), I used to read (and occasionally post to) a Usenet group called alt.shenanigans. Dunno if it’s still around, but the stuff described in this thread was exactly the kind of stuff around back then. ---
**Author:** ![invisibleOLDlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e57/32.png) [@invisibleOLDlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/invisibleOLDlady)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/28 "2001-08-28T01:37:28Z")
a long long time ago (i was maybe 11)…I went to the store with my brother (who was six or seven) and my friend (a year older, but much shorter)…I was about five foot five inches tall already and had a sizeable chest…so me and my friend thought it would be funny if she and my brother referred to me as “mom.” I also scolded them when they were out of line. I don’t know if it was just in my head, but it really seemed to disturb people. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/29 "2001-08-28T01:43:39Z")
This one is great, it’s so subtle but you can mess with hundreds of people in just an afternoon. Do this when you’re walking in a mall, or on a sidewalk, or in a public hallway, and when someone walking the opposite direction approaches you, look past them on the _other side_ from the one you intend to pass them on. Many people will become confused as to which side to pass you on. This works especially well in malls and crosswalks. (P.S. alt.shen is still around but I don’t know if it still lives up to your fond memories. A lot of Usenet has deteriorated with the onset of spam and invasions of trolls.) ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/30 "2001-08-28T03:47:43Z")
My best girl friend and I know about 100 linedances, some very complex with fancy footwork. We dance to anything with an appropriate beat, anywhere with an appropriate floor. Most large grocery stores, malls and WalMarts have music and great floors. We start dancing at the beginning of a musical phrase and stop at the end of it. So far, no one’s thrown money. ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/31 "2001-08-28T07:25:06Z")
[hijack] > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by SwimmingRiddles \* > At the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts, where GT was a course offered, the final project usually involves going to the local Walmart and protesting child labor by doing things like loudly proclaiming “Gee, those Tawianese children’s small little fingers sure do make nice tight stiches!”_\* from Space Jam (the cartoon/reality or whateveryoucallit movie), “Hey, i resemble that remark!” [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/32 "2001-08-29T04:26:45Z")
I know jellydonut, we both like to, while sitting next to people in a restaurant, move something on their side of the table. Take their fork and turn it sideways. Put their knife so that it’s handle is farther away from them and the blade is closer. Move their cup slightly to their right. It’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/33 "2001-08-29T07:04:58Z")
There is a toy, do not know the name of it, but it is a padded bat, with a nerf ball. What you do is take the bat, and make like you are a sword fighter. You can also do this with those swim noodle toys, i reccomend it. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/34 "2001-08-29T07:55:12Z")
So what, OldLady, that was like, oh, 60 or 70 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249/35 "2001-08-29T12:00:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\*Yowzah. Where’d you learn this?? I used to do this with a friend of mine back in the good ol’ college days, 'cept we called it table chess. \*\* My friend and I started doing it in High School and it just stuck with us. That was 17 years ago and we still do it. Something else we do once in awhile: We are at a restaurant and we order something, but we make sure to order it WITHOUT something that would never be put on it anyways: Example: Me: I’d like a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and ketchup… but please make sure NOT to put any whipped cream on it. Server: Sir, we don’t put whipped cream on our cheeseburgers. Me: Good, because I don’t want any. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-things-to-do-in-public/78249.md?page=1)