# What silly fads have you enjoyed and/or participated in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102 "2025-06-25T02:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/21 "2025-06-25T14:22:36Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Like I said - has me thinking about what is/isn’t a fad. I agree. Most of the stuff mentioned we all wore, played with, or used. That’s what we had and it was in style. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/22 "2025-06-25T14:36:21Z")
A fad needs to be short lived and non-recurring. Fashion almost always repeats itself. So does music, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/23 "2025-06-25T14:47:41Z")
super loud and obnoxious Jams shorts in the 80s. Although to be honest, we were too poor for me to get authentic Jams so I made do with knockoffs. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/24 "2025-06-25T14:58:19Z")
And after Jams, we moved to JNCOs. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/25 "2025-06-25T15:08:00Z")
I still show off my skills as a coin snatcher. My best is 42 quarters. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/26 "2025-06-25T15:09:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Probably wore my army jacket to high school every day in the mid-70s. I was in junior high for that one. Did everyone sigh yours like a yearbook? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/27 "2025-06-25T15:10:07Z")
You’re supposed to take them out of the paper roll first. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/28 "2025-06-25T15:12:56Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I still show off my skills as a coin snatcher. My best is 42 quarters. Nice, world record! (If it was still 1977, that is-- the record has probably been beaten since then 😉) ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/29 "2025-06-25T15:13:03Z")
I knew someone would say that. The last time I snatched a large number was at a church leadership retreat where I collected quarters from everyone and got up into the thirties. Good luck finding them all if you miss with that many, but I don’t miss. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/30 "2025-06-25T15:16:59Z")
I remember seeing that in the book of world records. They weren’t quarters, but a larger coin, if I’m remembering correctly. 328 10 pence coins is the current record, btw. I’ve never tried multiple stacks, but there’s no way I’d come close to that. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/31 "2025-06-25T15:30:45Z")
Where’s George: you enter serial numbers from cash and hopefully get hits showing where it’s gone. I had one turn up in a geocache stash in the UK. Beanie Babies, for a while. I had clackers (the two balls at the end of a string) in grade school. I was a hardass: I had the glass ones, before they were banned. I just bought a Bogg bag. Well, no, I didn’t: I bought a knockoff that was a third the price. For those lucky enough to not be in the know: they are large, colorful, plastic (material similar to Crocs) beach / pool totes with tons of accessories you can clip onto them. The brand name is ridiculously over priced (90 dollars for a rubber bag???) and even most knockoffs are 50ish. Nope. But the design fits a genuine need, so when I saw one for 30 dollars I jumped on it. I have not yet succumbed to the desire to get a Stanley Cup and a clip to attach same to the bag… ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/32 "2025-06-25T16:57:16Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Where’s George: you enter serial numbers from cash and hopefully get hits showing where it’s gone I still do that, at least to a certain extent. Part of my job involves counting cash, so I’ll enter those ones when I see them. I still have my WheresGeorge stamp sitting here, but I haven’t entered new bills in years. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/33 "2025-06-25T17:24:20Z")
Cabbage Patch Kids Rubik’s Cube Trapper Keepers ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/34 "2025-06-25T17:26:32Z")
Hypercolor shirts ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/35 "2025-06-25T17:47:35Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I had a mood ring. Guilty. A girl I was dating in high school circa 1975 bought me one and insisted I wear it all the time. I have no idea how much they were at the time. Hope not to much. They were pieces of shit. Some kind of stone wrapped in really cheap ass metal. How stupid they were. When we broke up a month later she demanded the ring back. It didn’t work anymore and left a green ring on my finger. 70"s fads were among the dopiest. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/36 "2025-06-25T17:56:40Z")
Around 1980ish, the big thing was scratch & sniff stickers. Everyone had a sticker album for displaying and trading them and the teachers resigned themselves to allowing us five minutes of sticker time in the morning and five minutes after recess if we agreed to put them away the rest of the time. Maybe lasted a year before the craze was passé. I didn’t get into too many fads, probably due to some social blindness and just not knowing what was “in” but that was one of the few I was a full participant in. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/37 "2025-06-25T18:06:58Z")
I had a pair or two of parachute pants. Never learned any snazzy dance moves, though. > **[Parachute pants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_pants)** > > Parachute pants, originally known as flight pants, are a style of trousers characterized by the use of nylon, especially ripstop nylon. > In the original tight-fitting style of the early 1980s, "parachute" referred to the pants' nylon material, similar to a parachute's. Parachute pants became a fad in US culture in the 1980s as part of the increased popularity of breakdancing.\[citation needed\] > The clothing company Bugle Boy manufactured the pants in the early 1980s, although they were not the fir... ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/38 "2025-06-25T18:10:13Z")
Just last Sunday, my grandkid had some kind of color changing putty. When my wife asked how it changed color, the kid said, “It’s like a mood ring.” I don’t know if her mom and dad ever had mood rings or where the kid heard of them. Just did a Google - they are still available. No idea how popular they are these days. With most fads, I doubt they COMPLETELY go away. Maybe some do - but I just looked and see you can still buy Pet Rocks. So, instead, I suspect there is just some short-lived period of pretty widespread popularity, after which they fall to much lower levels. I wonder if horoscopes count? In the 60s-70s, they were all over the place, printed in the newspapers, with stuff sold in occult shops. (Remember those?). These days, I wonder if most young kids even know their “sign.” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/39 "2025-06-25T18:11:02Z")
I jumped on the Crocs shoes. Needing quick-ons for fast moving. But really I liked the colors. Sadly, I don’t need to be busy and in a hurry. But I still have Crocs, still buy them. Still wear them daily. All seasons. (Yes, I wear them with socks 😱) They are actually a Fad again. See, if you wait long enough everything comes back. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102/40 "2025-06-25T18:12:09Z")
This reminds I owned a few pairs of Zubaz pants. > **[Zubaz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubaz)** > > Zubaz (/ˈzuːbæz/) is a brand of shorts and pants, distinctively patterned with colorful stripes, that became popular during the early 1990s. It was primarily marketed as athletic wear for weightlifting and wrestling but found wider success. > In 1988, professional wrestlers Michael Hegstrand & Joseph Laurinaitis brainstormed ideas with Bob Truax and Don Stock, managers at gyms the pair owned, for better quality workout pants. Laurinaitis said, “We need to come up with an idea for pants that we ... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-silly-fads-have-you-enjoyed-and-or-participated-in/1020102.md?page=3)