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.
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).
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.
A terrible movie with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
“Dammit. Slip of the tongue.”
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xefury_blackadder-your-money-or-your-life_fun
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.
“…I’m thinking…”
Really? Adults seriously try to scare trick-or-treaters these days? What do they do?
Scared him real good.
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.
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.
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