We made chains out of gum wrappers (the colored paper sleeves that covered the foil-wrapped stick of gum). They were folded and linked together. Just about every girl I know made one. The resulting chain was supposed to be as long as your boyfriend was tall.
None of us had a boyfriend, but we all made the chain.
^ I remember those; impressive dexterity to make them. I also remember chains made of pop-top tabs (must have taken forever to save up enough PTs) and paper clips.
This reminded me of the B-language we had a lot of fun with as kids. The best friend of my sister made it up one day (she’s a speech talent, she also can repeat any sentence you tell her instantly in reverse speech), and after that we always used to talk in the B-language. The rule was to insert the letter ‘B’ into every word after every vowel, so “This is the B-language” becomes “Thibis ibis thebe B-B-labangubage”. You get the picture, I hope. Did anybody on earth do the same? My sister and I can still talk in perfect B-language if we are feeling silly.
You think that somehow ties in with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids?
I honestly don’t know what you’re referring to, but I very much doubt it. This happened in Germany in the mid-70s, when Bill Cosby was still virtually unknown here. He only got to be famous when the Cosby show was shown on German TV in the 80s. But please set me straight, what did the Cosby kids do?
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids had a character named Mushmouth who talked like that. Bad Youtube clip follows:
Sorry, REALLY bad clip.
Slightly better clip:
It’s kinda like the ubby dubby language they used to do on the PBS kids’ show Zoom.
I was an adult when that show was on, but I love watching it. I liked the kids a lot…and their Boston accents.
That was common in Spanish too, in Gabriel García Márquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude there is a story about how one of the female protagonists insults the other in her face using this language so that everybody understands but she (she came to the family by marriage and was from another town, I think, and did not play those frivolous games. She was the bigot wife rather towards the end).
That’s really funny, but it must have been independent cultural developments on two different continents 
. Michi, my sister’s best friend (45 years ago and to this day) is very quirky and funny, and it doesn’t surprise me that she had the same idea as script writers of a kids cartoon show.
A show that, btw., never ran in Germany, so Michi couldn’t have heard it there.
Damned, I’ve read that novel about thirty years ago, but I don’t remember that bit, and I must’ve noticed because I find those similarities amusing. I wonder if it was badly translated in my German copy.
What about high school football cheers? There were two I remember that I don’t remember hearing anywhere else:
Rah rah ree. Hit 'em in the knee. Rah rah rass. Hit 'em in the other knee.
Blood makes the grass grow. Defense!. Defense!
When will you be publishing your paper on this phenomenon? I’d like to read it. Make sure you put in some Star Trek references for validity. 
I never read it in German, but several times in Spanish, it is one of my favourite books, so I must recommend you read it again. 
And then tell me, translation issues interest me for professional reasons. 
I wonder how Klingon sounds in the B-language .
Can’t. Stop. Laughing!
(Lunch time – gotta go. Thanks, all.)
Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy anymore, I think I borrowed it from somebody back then. But I’ll look if it’s available for the Kindle, it’s an old book that shouldn’t be too expensive. I remember that I liked it, I’m a big fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez anyway and have read some of his other books, so it’s really time I’d revisit “One Hundred Years Of Solitude”.
Ah, that’s interesting, I wondered if there was a new translation after all these years. I’ve added it to my wishlist, thanks!
When I was in Junior High school, poncho shirts were in style. They were shirts with pointy hems that were to be worn outside of your pants. But the school’s rules were that your shirt had to be tucked in, so the pointy hem wasn’t allowed. So we retaliated by wearing our belts with the buckle on the side instead of on the front.