# That Annoying Old Man- What Exactly Is He Doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315 "2006-01-17T04:10:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/1 "2006-01-17T04:10:57Z")
So there’s this old guy hanging around our place, playing this “knick-knack” game on damn near everything- my shoe, my knee, the door, whatever. He even went so far as play this knick-knack up to heaven. What’s this guy’s game? ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/2 "2006-01-17T04:16:50Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > So there’s this old guy hanging around our place, playing this “knick-knack” game on damn near everything- my shoe, my knee, the door, whatever. He even went so far as play this knick-knack up to heaven. > > What’s this guy’s game? Darn good question! I thought he was playing “two”, but when I looked again he was playing “three”! Mayhap time for Jack Bauer to intervene? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/3 "2006-01-17T04:29:23Z")
I swear I saw him whacking someone’s paddy. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/4 "2006-01-17T04:31:30Z")
Don’t know what he’s doing, but he sure is good looking. He’d give a _dog_ a bone. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/5 "2006-01-17T04:35:10Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > Don’t know what he’s doing, but he sure is good looking. He’d give a _dog_ a bone. So does that cackling hussy, Old Mother Hubbard. My neighborhood is really taking a dive. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/6 "2006-01-17T04:36:11Z")
But seriously, this is driving me crazy. What is it to play knick-knack? ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/7 "2006-01-17T04:43:00Z")
Dry-humping, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![KesMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@KesMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KesMan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/8 "2006-01-17T04:52:35Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > But seriously, this is driving me crazy. What is it to play knick-knack? well i know knick-knacks are like small ornaments or just general small things people accumalate… ie: i have a draw full of knick knacks or tat. paddywhack is an unedible part of a cow, so it ties in with ‘give the dog a bone’… and not that small piece of rubbery paddywhack. possibly. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/9 "2006-01-17T04:57:05Z")
Damnit, it got moved. Someone very MODern sucks around here. I wanna know what this is! Can’t sleep! Bugging me! Was a serious question! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!! Is torture in my brain meats! ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/10 "2006-01-17T05:01:25Z")
Lyrics and sound: [This Old Man](http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/oldman.htm) Pete Seeger gave the song life in the US with his [1953 recording.](http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/FSWB390C.html) [This feisty discussion](http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63833&messages=68&page=1) refs the song in England back to 1911, _maybe_ earlier. It may be derived from ‘Old Joe Padlock’. I thought the old man’s name was Paddywhack, but there seems a wealth of speculation on what _that_ means. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/11 "2006-01-17T05:04:46Z")
The OP wasn’t very clear, so I moved this to MPSIMS\> Now that I see you are really asking a GQ, perhaps I’ll move it back. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![KesMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@KesMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KesMan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/12 "2006-01-17T05:07:31Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > Damnit, it got moved. Someone very MODern sucks around here. > > I wanna know what this is! Can’t sleep! Bugging me! Was a serious question! > > Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!! > > Is torture in my brain meats! im afraid its probably just rhyming with paddywhack and sounds like something being hit rhymically. sounds better than a whack whack paddywhack. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/13 "2006-01-17T05:07:51Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The OP wasn’t very clear, so I moved this to MPSIMS\> > > Now that I see you are really asking a GQ, perhaps I’ll move it back. > > **samclem** GQ moderator You neither suck, nor blow. 😃 And I am serious about this question. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/14 "2006-01-17T05:27:08Z")
My advice: Give the dog a bone, and that old man will go rolling home. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/15 "2006-01-17T05:36:04Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > My advice: Give the dog a bone, and that old man will go rolling home. That, or just give 'im a good shove. You know how unsteady those knick-knacking old men are. One good push and he’ll be off like a bowling ball. :: resists the urge to speculate on the coefficient of rolling friction between an old man and the ground :: ---
**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:** [January 17, 2006, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/16 "2006-01-17T08:16:19Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > That, or just give 'im a good shove. You know how unsteady those knick-knacking old men are. One good push and he’ll be off like a bowling ball. > :: resists the urge to speculate on the coefficient of rolling friction between an old man and the ground :: The old man and the C, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/17 "2006-01-17T10:53:59Z")
Now there’s a coincidence: I sang little case to sleep with this song a scant couple of hours ago, at his request. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/18 "2006-01-17T19:32:05Z")
In kindergarden, I kinda disliked the old man. Even at that young age, I knew that “thumb” doesn’t rhyme with “one”. But I remember now another song that _really_ worried me: “Shoo, fly, don’t bother me…” I could never figure out what a “shoe fly” was. My shoes never had any flies in 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/19 "2006-01-17T19:39:58Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > But I remember now another song that _really_ worried me: “Shoo, fly, don’t bother me…” > I could never figure out what a “shoe fly” was. My shoes never had any flies in 'em. My friend’s six-year-old thought “Feliz Navidad” was actually “Fleas On My Dog.” He couldn’t understand why it was a Christmas song and I was laughing too hard to explain it, so his mother fielded that one. But the “knick-knack paddywhack” always kinda freaked me out. I assumed that This Old Man was getting ready to beat me about the posterior with my mother’s bookends. I figured he was upset because he was married to the old lady who swallowed the fly and _she_ obviously wasn’t doing so well. Why he’d take that out on _me_ was one of Life’s Great Mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315/20 "2006-01-17T19:47:53Z")
I had my paddy whacked once. In Amsterdam. Cost me $43. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-annoying-old-man-what-exactly-is-he-doing/340315.md?page=2)