# Wait a second, smear the queer...... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337 "2007-12-17T16:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/101 "2007-12-20T22:49:56Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] In the western suburbs of Philly, the game was called “fumble-itis.” [/QUOTE] Same area, we called it “smear the queer.” (Born 1974.) Never once even thought about any sort of sexual reference in the name. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/102 "2007-12-20T22:56:42Z")
We (mid 70s) only occasionally played Smear the Queer. We usually played “Keep Away”. Can anyone tell the class how that game is played? ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/103 "2007-12-20T23:26:35Z")
I’m 60 and can remember playing StQ as a little nipper. Our son also had many a game of it while he was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/104 "2007-12-21T01:00:55Z")
When I played it, we tied up the gay kid, put him in the middle of the soccer field, and then started drawing on him with magic marker. Everybody knew what the name meant, and I’m shocked, nay flabbergasted, that people here played different versions. Seriously though, I’m sad because I’ve never played it… The roughest we ever got was Trip Wars (two kids try to trip each other), Steal the Bacon with Tackle, and Suicide (throw a tennis ball against a wall, if you drop it on the rebound then you have to run to the wall before you get pegged) ---
**Author:** ![Saby\_Baby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Saby\_Baby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saby_Baby)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/105 "2013-09-26T00:25:41Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > I’ve never heard of the game, or the name. I grew up in the late '90s. Thats probably because it was an out doors game that you physically played, Not a video game. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/106 "2013-09-26T00:44:43Z")
The most exciting part of this by far is the fact that Saby Baby is apparently friends with Morgenstern. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/107 "2013-09-26T01:06:32Z")
> [@Saby\_Baby](#): > > Thats probably because it was an out doors game that you physically played, Not a video game. What? I didn’t say I thought it was a video game. Why did you assume I did? Or did a zombie type that? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/108 "2013-09-26T02:25:49Z")
Saby Baby is attempting to insult those of us under a certain age by saying we never played outside but merely vegetated in front of a tv with our Call of Dutys and our Super Mario Bros. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/109 "2013-09-26T09:51:27Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Saby Baby is attempting to insult those of us under a certain age by saying we never played outside but merely vegetated in front of a tv with our Call of Dutys and our Super Mario Bros. Well, you could have been outside… staring at your GameBoys! Whippersnappers! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/110 "2013-09-26T11:24:31Z")
I did my playing outside as a kid during the Sixties and early Seventies, and I never heard of the game as anything other than “Kill the Man With the Ball.” ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/111 "2013-09-26T12:00:05Z")
It was called “Kill the man with the ball” when I was a youngster ( mid 70’s ). I busted many a pair of glasses in those days and as **Clothahump** noted, it was indeed good times. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337/112 "2013-09-30T13:27:48Z")
We played Kill the Guy With the Ball and Smear the Queer. For the longest time, I thought “queer” and “quare” were two different words (didn’t really know what either meant) because we only pronounced it “queer” for the game. In all other usage, the Boston accent took over and it was pronounced “quare” (silent r of course.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-smear-the-queer/430337.md?page=5)