# Old-fashioned children's pastimes like...throwing rocks at cars **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065 "2004-07-14T14:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/61 "2004-10-01T16:54:43Z")
My friends and I used to hang out at a local construction site. We had a field day there! We took a small bucket, tied a rope around the handle, then lowered it into a porta-john. We would then take this bucket of human excrement and splatter it all over the inside of half built houses :eek:. There were often sheets of drywall in stacks, we’d pour a little poo in between each stack then stomp on the whole pile, by the time we were done each piece of drywall looked like a Jackson Pollack painting :eek: ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/62 "2004-10-01T17:34:19Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Is there any childless person who still envisions having kids after reading this thread? It’s too late for me to take this into consideration regarding having kids, however, I am going to go home and lock my ten year old in his closet. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/63 "2004-10-02T02:31:48Z")
There was a new house being built in our neighborhood, and we used to sneak inside and run around in it. Unfortunately, we had to stop when this other girl came with us and started smashing the garage windows with rocks-we figured they’d monitor the place better and we’d end up getting caught. I’ve done my share of prank calls, too. Sent some people pizzas. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/64 "2004-10-02T02:35:55Z")
Oh, I just remembered another thing-now, this was an idea we had, that, unfortunately we never got a chance to actually act on. One day, out of the blue, this idea just came to me-instead of passing out candy on Halloween, why not pass out tampons? Back story: see, back then, Tampax had a 1-800-TAMPONS hotline, where you could call, ask questions about your period, and ask for free samples. We’d order a bunch of free samples just for the hell of it, and we’d also send some to other people. We had a whole stash we were going to pass out to trick or treators, -but nothing ever came of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/65 "2004-10-02T05:13:09Z")
Cripes! I can see I was a very sheltered kid. :eek: I just used to go up on the overpass and mime pulling an airhorn cord to see whether any of the eighteen-wheelers on the 401 below would respond… Well, there was the time we plundered a construction site for tree-fort materials. And the time I got caught drawing on the wall of the school. I think mostly I was in my own world. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/66 "2004-10-02T20:21:36Z")
I also was a Rock Thrower as a stupid kid. We would throw handfuls of gravel from these train tracks that crossed over a busy highway. Other stupid stuff I did: -Loaded a BB gun like a muzzleloader and shot at signs. Never cars. -Ding Dong Door Ditch -Pee in peoples unlocked cars -Steal safety cones/blockaids and set them up in residental streets shutting down whole blocks. -Dumping garbage bins in the skyways late at night. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/67 "2004-10-02T20:41:04Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > We also used to pretend like we were beating the crap out of each other. (this would be in the back seat, passing someone on the interstate) Pretend??? If that stupid brother of mine crossed a fraction of an inch into my half of the seat, he’d get a good ol’ rocket sock-it right in the arm. And it usually escalated from there. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/68 "2004-10-02T20:51:15Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > Pretend??? If that stupid brother of mine crossed a fraction of an inch into my half of the seat, he’d get a good ol’ rocket sock-it right in the arm. > And it usually escalated from there. My brother and I do that. Then we hit back because we “aren’t even” We end up hitting each other for a while, then our parents yell at us to cut it out. Ah… good times. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/69 "2004-10-03T00:47:10Z")
When we were kids, we fished and swam off the rocks in the Hudson river. It always got everyones attention when a kayaker was heading our way(they were usually close to shore) because before you knew it, we were pelting this defenseless human with rocks. They could never paddle fast enough to avoid our barrage, and the laughter went out of control when the guy would roll the kayak, and hide behind it…screaming at us at the top of his lung. Great fun. On the way home, we would head for the train station, go to the end of the platform and climb up on the bridge supports…which put us at train window height, and now came the train pulling out of the station, passengers with there elbows out the windows (no A/C in those days) and, as I said, on a level with us gangsters, we would proceed to pee on the arms as they went by. I’m laughing as I type this. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/70 "2004-10-03T01:14:44Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > This thread is bringing up memories of many idiotic things my brothers and I did. Here’s another: On family trips we made signs saying “Help! I’ve been kidnapped.” and displayed them in the back window for the drivers behind us to see. Can you imagine what would happen if someone saw such a sign today? Heh. My best friend growing up did this when she was 7 or 8 (about 20 years ago) while on a car trip. Her parents were stopped by state troopers. I admire her parents’ self-restraint for not killing her 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Pessor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pessor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/71 "2004-10-03T03:35:39Z")
High school, senior year, Myrtle Beach, SC. The four of us are walking the beach, bottle rockets in hand, firing them off into the air, into the ocean, at each other, etc. We were cool. Then along comes this local hellion, out to be entertained by the hundreds of visiting high school kids and their ignorance. He comes over to us and says “no no no… this is what you do!” He takes one of our bottle rockets into his hand and points it directly toward the open slider of a second story resort hotel room and lights it. The thing rips out of his hand and reports inside the room and sets off the smoke detector in that room. We were rolling. But he wasn’t done. Using about five more rockets he tags two more rooms in the same building- enough to set the entire building smoke alarm off. A good ten stories of vacationers evacuated. ☹ I still wonder where that kid is sometimes… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/72 "2004-10-03T05:13:18Z")
> [@Live Better Electrically!](#): > > In my case, we threw pebbles at cars on residential streets, often in full view of the motorists, with no chance of hurting the drivers. It was still a bad idea, but we were oblivious. > > Hmmm, I wonder if kids today are actually better behaved in some ways? The kids in Fort Hope, Ontario, shoot at planes taking off. ---
**Author:** ![frenetic\_amnesic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@frenetic\_amnesic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frenetic_amnesic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/73 "2004-10-03T05:24:44Z")
We did the tying 20 lb. test fishing string across the road thing one time and were having a blast until we got the bright idea to line massive rocks up across the road! This was the #1 most stupid thing we could ever have done but we didn’t realize this until the car hit them going about 40 m.p.h. and skid sideways for like 30 feet! ---
**Author:** ![emacularius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@emacularius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacularius)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/74 "2004-10-03T06:06:46Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > We’d fill a trashcan half full of water, lean it against someone’s front door, ring the doorbell and run. LOL… that’s just freakin’ hilarious! The worst I ever did was prank phone calls. I got caught, my mom told me (I’m not making this up)…that I could have KILLED someone. (She’s a little on the melodramatic side) My brother and I would fill up ziploc bags with water and put them in the road to watch cars run over them…but that was fairly harmless. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/75 "2004-10-03T19:05:53Z")
> [@frenetic amnesic](#): > > We did the tying 20 lb. test fishing string across the road thing one time and were having a blast until we got the bright idea to line massive rocks up across the road! This was the #1 most stupid thing we could ever have done but we didn’t realize this until the car hit them going about 40 m.p.h. and skid sideways for like 30 feet! Heh, like I said, my dad and his friends did this when they were kids. Only in this case, the cars saw them before hand and had to inch slowly over them. Kind of a homemade speedbump, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/76 "2004-10-03T22:52:31Z")
Way back in the mid 80’s before the proliferation of security cameras and keyless entry, some friends of mine took a box of toothpicks and put one in both door locks of about 100 cars in a mall parking lot. :eek: They snapped them off so nothing was left sticking out to grab on to. Then they sat and watched as the tow-trucks and Pop-A-Lock trucks started rolling in. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065/77 "2004-10-03T23:54:37Z")
My Dad admitted that when he was a lad (think 1920’s) the local bunch of hooligans disassembled a farmer’s wagon, hauled all of the pieces onto the roof of town hall and reassembled it. Another kid and I played hatchet toss one afternoon. :eek: It’s a wonder I’m not typing with stumps. One street in town ran along the bottom af a fair grade, and in the absence of storm sewers, there were swales at every cross street and yellow diamond signs showing **DIP**. A visit to the graphic arts shop in high school to make a very nice stencil, a can of gloss black paint, and by morning the signs all read **DIP SHIT**. We also kiped a dozen flashing horses with **DETOUR** and a right pointing arrow, then deployed them around all the streets going into a tiny borough. Then we went back to one of the guy’s houses and listened to the police scanner as they tried to figure out WTF PennDot had closed off Ivyland for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-fashioned-childrens-pastimes-like-throwing-rocks-at-cars/255065.md?page=3)