# Shields! Fart touch! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373 "2003-09-23T18:58:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/1 "2003-09-23T18:58:17Z")
Is anyone else familiar with this, or was this just highly localized game that I played during childhood? You know. If somebody farted, they had the fart touch and you had to yell “shields!” and cross your fingers lest they pass it on to you (the “booger touch” also existed)? You know what I’m talking about, right? I want to be able to make references to it and have them recognized, but I fear this might have just been a county-wide thing. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/2 "2003-09-23T19:04:07Z")
crap! I thought this was MPSIMS ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/3 "2003-09-23T19:21:22Z")
Everybody in your county yells out “Fart touch”? ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/4 "2003-09-23T20:48:22Z")
Damn! That’s impressive when you can be heard county-wide. Best I could ever do was the other side of the playground. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/5 "2003-09-23T21:44:11Z")
Did they cover their holes when they farted? ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/6 "2003-09-23T21:46:30Z")
No they didn’t!! ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/7 "2003-09-23T22:03:45Z")
Speaking of weird stuff like that, I’m here to tell you that in the late 70s, there was a group of kids in SE Georgia who cupped their right hands and hooked them overhand at the person who just got cut down, and said, “Fish!” I have no idea what this is from. I was in 4th grade, new to town, and rolling with the crowd. It’s one of the great mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/8 "2003-09-24T02:03:50Z")
Well, hell. I thought I was opening some weird new sci-fi spaceship thread that would be all about new shielding to protect the travelers not only from enemies on the outside, but from their own people inside. Nope, never heard of such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/9 "2003-09-24T11:02:46Z")
That’s, uh, quite a game you played there. Maybe we could play it here? SHIELDS! …just in case 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cab0a1/32.png) [@Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daddy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/10 "2003-09-24T15:58:23Z")
When I was a kid, if somebody farted you would call “Doorknob!” This entitled you to slug them repeatedly in the shoulder until they touched a doorknob. HOWEVER, if you cut one and called “Safety!” before anyone called doorknob, you had immunity. Although I’m glad this one died off when we graduated to 6th grade, **Mommy** and I still enjoy playing “Slugbug” and “Bruiser Cruiser” while driving around. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/11 "2003-09-24T16:14:46Z")
When I was a kid, if someone farted (who am I kidding? We were school age boys…WHEN someone farted…), the last person to put their thumb to their forehead [(like this)](http://deafness.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/) was considered to have “eaten the fart” and would be subjected to endless scorn and ridicule until someone else farted. ---
**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/12 "2003-09-25T01:51:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Casey1505 \* > \*\*When I was a kid, if someone farted (who am I kidding? We were school age boys…WHEN someone farted…), the last person to put their thumb to their forehead [(like this)](http://deafness.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/) was considered to have “eaten the fart” and would be subjected to endless scorn and ridicule until someone else farted. \*\* Hell, my friends and I still do this at the monthly card game and we’re 34+… You’re never too old to be silly! ---
**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:** [September 25, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shields-fart-touch/203373/13 "2003-09-25T01:57:07Z")
We had “Gas Van!”. When we saw a van from the gas company the first person to say ‘Gas Van’ was entitled to hit the shoulder of all others present.