# Holy crap, I don't know what "trick or treat" means! (Not MPSIMS, but Need Answer Fast) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780 "2013-10-21T03:18:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/21 "2013-10-22T14:44:42Z")
Does anyone else think like me, that it has gone a little overboard. Some of the blame must rest with supermarkets which devote acres of space, presumably profitably, to halloween junk. Also with schools that encourage it all. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/22 "2013-10-22T15:43:52Z")
The meaning of a word or phrase is partly determined by how it’s used. I am of roughly the vintage, apparently, as **Colibri** , and in the 50’s, when we said Trick or Treat, we simply meant that we expected a treat, which we almost always got. If not, we soaped their windows. That’s how it worked. And one collateral benefit of that standard was that if you saw a house that already had its windows soaped, you skipped it and went to the next place. Even then we knew the meaning of efficiency (and greed). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/23 "2013-10-22T16:19:20Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Does anyone else think like me, that it has gone a little overboard. Some of the blame must rest with supermarkets which devote acres of space, presumably profitably, to halloween junk. Also with schools that encourage it all. I’m not sure there is a factual answer to what is “overboard” and what is not, but in my neighborhood, there is an almost carnival like atmosphere and people decorate their homes in very elaborate ways. We’ve come a long way from when I was kid-- we’d put a pumpkin on the porch and hang a cardboard skeleton on the door. Now we’re talking giant spiders crawling off the roofs, life-like witches strung up in trees, music, dry ice, and plenty more. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/24 "2013-10-22T16:31:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m not sure there is a factual answer to what is “overboard” A terrible movie with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/25 "2013-10-22T19:50:37Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > The robber: “Your money or your life!” > The logician: “If you take my life, how can I be sure you don’t take my money as well?” “Dammit. Slip of the tongue.” [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xefury\_blackadder-your-money-or-your-life\_fun](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xefury_blackadder-your-money-or-your-life_fun) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/26 "2013-10-22T20:16:55Z")
It goes back to, I believe, _All Souls Day_, when souls, once more, walk the land. Leaving a treat meant not being tormented by ghosts. Oct 31 is All Souls Day, one day befor All Saints Day. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/27 "2013-10-22T20:18:23Z")
“…I’m thinking…” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/28 "2013-10-24T04:43:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > That’s funny, because now it’s almost _de rigueur_ to try and scare kids. Really? Adults seriously try to scare trick-or-treaters these days? What do they do? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/29 "2013-10-24T14:08:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Really? Adults seriously try to scare trick-or-treaters these days? What do they do? > **[HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News](https://www.huffpost.com/)** > > Read the latest headlines, news stories, and opinion from Politics, Entertainment, Life, Perspectives, and more. Scared him real good. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/30 "2013-10-25T02:06:46Z")
Paul Stookey, quite a few years ago now, put it this way: “On Halloween, kids race from house to house, demanding protection money.” That’s the basic concept - pay up (in candy), or we do your front window. ---
**Author:** ![Cerealbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Cerealbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerealbox)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/31 "2013-10-25T03:04:32Z")
OP never sang “Trick or treat / smell my feet / give me something good to eat / if you don’t / I don’t care / I’ll pull down your underwear.” Trick or treat is a threat, not a request. Halloween should have been the best holiday cause it allowed kids to be dark for a change, but PC nonsense ruined it. My Mom didn’t even let us eat the candy we got, but still made us march around for two plus hours getting it for some reason. Now that I think about it, she always seemed to gain weight around that time of year. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780/32 "2013-10-25T03:20:08Z")
> [@Cerealbox](#): > > OP never sang “Trick or treat / smell my feet / give me something good to eat / if you don’t / I don’t care / I’ll pull down your underwear.” Funny how those kids’ poems/songs mutate as they spread. Where I grew up, it went like this: Trick or Treat, smell my feet Give me something good to eat Or I’ll kick you down the street [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-i-dont-know-what-trick-or-treat-means-not-mpsims-but-need-answer-fast/671780.md?page=1)