# Were there "lists" when you were in school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047 "2019-03-13T05:32:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/21 "2019-03-13T18:44:43Z")
The boys started a list rating all the girls in the grade on a hot-or-not scale. The teachers found out within a day, gave them all a proper withering lecture, and to my knowledge no more lists were ever made. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/22 "2019-03-13T18:54:25Z")
We just passed notes, not lists. I think a few of the notes were about what a slut I was. I was the girl with the scarlet letter back then after my best friend turned nemesis told everyone I was cheating on my abusive boyfriend (I wasn’t; even had I been inclined I would’ve been terrified to do so, and just the rumor earned me a beating). Said nemesis was later caught giving him a blowjob in the parking lot during a dance. Go figure. Did I mention I really hated high school? ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/23 "2019-03-13T19:37:49Z")
I got caught in seventh grade making a slam book, which is an entire book of lists. Some of the lists were about students or teachers, some were about about celebrities. The one I got most in trouble for was about who we wanted to fuck the most There were others though, much worse because they were so hurtful but the principal was most concerned with the sex talk. Everyone did it back then. We didn’t think about it being a type of bullying. This was seventh grade and we just desperately wanted to seem mature so talking about sex and insulting people made us feel very grown up and superior. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/24 "2019-03-13T19:47:07Z")
The difference between a slam book or list in theb70s and 80s and today is that everyone has cameras and an internet enabled device with them 24/7. It isnt harmless to make an electonic open source list of “100 F–gs We Hate” even if you don’t _intend_ to distribute it. Like Jurassic park, life finds a way. Stucks and stones may break my bones but the internet is forever. Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/25 "2019-03-13T20:04:48Z")
It was a middle school thing, mostly among the girls. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/26 "2019-03-13T20:09:11Z")
Glad I read through the posts before I responded to the poll. My middle school went through a “slam book” phase, and I remember learning about it because someone said I was in it. Any details beyond that have been lost to history. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/27 "2019-03-13T21:02:26Z")
I remember slam books and lists going around in middle and high school in the '70s. I vaguely recall one time being voted “Most Arrogant.” I overheard kids asking each other what arrogant means. Apparently it can mean “a smart, shy, quiet girl.” ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/28 "2019-03-13T23:47:11Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > A informal list by girls was used, there was a competition among 3 of them to see how many boys they could sleep with, or at least give a blow job to and if they could do their entire grade’s classmates. Huh, so apparently I went to the wrong school. As far as lists if there were any I didn’t know about it. I was friendly with everyone and in a variety of groups so I probably would have heard about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/29 "2019-03-14T02:48:28Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > The difference between a slam book or list in theb70s and 80s and today is that everyone has cameras and an internet enabled device with them 24/7. Everything I’ve read seems to suggest that slam books were usually open secrets who was on them, too, and as such were used for bullying. I mean, they’re teens, and they’re passing them around to more people. It seems nearly inevitable that someone will tell someone else they’re on there. We didn’t have them by the time I was in school, but I definitely would easily overhear rumors (even sometimes about me) simply by listening to people in an unassuming way. Things don’t stay secret in junior high or high school. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/30 "2019-03-15T05:40:01Z")
Hardly enough kids in my school to make a proper list. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/31 "2019-03-28T05:18:50Z")
Bumped with [a relevant article](https://www.themarysue.com/boys-will-be-boys-not-good-enough/). ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/32 "2019-03-28T08:02:29Z")
Actually, yes. Some girls did a yearly one during Middle School and then it was passed around the class. Not to toot my own horn, but I was the proud recipient of “biggest autist in the grade” two years in a row. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/33 "2019-03-28T15:27:18Z")
Not that I know of, but I was part of the nameless rabble. I remember that a form was passed around in my senior year on which you could vote for things like “girl with the prettiest eyes”. This was for the senior yearbook, but it wasn’t a list, _per se_. Even so, you knew whether or not you would make the grade, based on your social standing. Just another reason that I was glad to finally leave the city’s school system and to reinvent myself in college. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/34 "2019-03-28T15:46:22Z")
Sounds just like something teenagers would do, but as far as I can remember, never happened at my schools. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/35 "2019-03-28T18:10:45Z")
Not that I’m aware of, but I wasn’t anywhere near the cool crowd so there might have been and just never heard about it. I was pretty oblivious to the cool crowd’s activities by choice. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047/36 "2019-03-30T00:40:37Z")
No. We might say someone was a [whatever], usually on the high side because nobody looked at someone less attractive than average and felt the need to declare “check that out!”. But formalizing it with a list? No. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-lists-when-you-were-in-school/831047.md?page=1)