# What's the name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 23, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614 "2006-10-23T20:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ReneePhillips10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@ReneePhillips10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReneePhillips10)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/1 "2006-10-23T20:30:11Z")
My friend says these were called ‘cootie catchers’ but, I don’t believe him. [http://www.barelythere.com/default.asp](http://www.barelythere.com/default.asp) I think they were called something else…those little paper fortune gadgets from school. Did you call them cootie catchers too? Maybe only the boys did. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/2 "2006-10-23T20:44:07Z")
I remember those! We also called them cootie catchers, though I there were a few other names for them that I can’t remember (I’m female, btw). Also, I have one of those bras, and they are fabulous. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/3 "2006-10-23T20:46:07Z")
I know it as a cootie catcher, too. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/4 "2006-10-23T20:47:52Z")
I actually made one last week when we were talking about them at work. I knew “cootie catchers” (I’m 51 and female), though neither of my 20-something coworkers (1 M, 1 F) did. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/5 "2006-10-23T20:57:41Z")
I knew them as Snapdragons. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/6 "2006-10-23T21:05:43Z")
We called them fortune tellers. A guy at my work who was 24 at the time made one this summer. It was about another guy at work that couldn’t drive anymore because of DWIs. It was a big joke at work about who had to pick him up and everyone made fun of him because he hadn’t driven in years. He could have gotten his license back but he didn’t want to pay all the associated costs and he was a heavy drinker and liked not having to sober drive. The stuff on the inside was all jokes about how the guy couldn’t drive. “Jack will spend $50 on beer at the Cards game and his mom will drive him home” etc. It was funny. Mean, but funny. I was friends with Jack but we worked at the kind of place where everyone knows each other and everyone picks on each other all the time. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/7 "2006-10-23T21:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] I actually made one last week when we were talking about them at work. I knew “cootie catchers” (I’m 51 and female), though neither of my 20-something coworkers (1 M, 1 F) did. [/QUOTE] I’m 25, so the term must have stuck around. Maybe it’s more of a regional thing - I grew up in southern NH. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/8 "2006-10-23T21:13:46Z")
I don’t recall what it was called, but your site informed me that a handsome prince was closer than I think… Being male and straight, this is not the news that I would have liked to have heard. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/9 "2006-10-23T22:01:40Z")
I know them as cootie catchers, too. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/10 "2006-10-24T00:35:57Z")
I know them as “cootie catchers” as well, and I doubt that it is a regional thing, as I live on the West Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/11 "2006-10-24T00:47:14Z")
I’ve never heard of a cootie catcher. Like **myskepticsight** , my friends and I called them fortune tellers and usually used them to create mean-spirited jokes. ---
**Author:** ![ReneePhillips10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@ReneePhillips10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReneePhillips10)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/12 "2006-10-25T15:05:33Z")
Ok ---
**Author:** ![ReneePhillips10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@ReneePhillips10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReneePhillips10)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/13 "2006-10-25T15:06:48Z")
[QUOTE] Yes! That’s it! We called them Snapdragons too! I remember now!.. Thanks… you are too cool! ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/14 "2006-10-25T18:09:17Z")
No cool names for us. We just called them fortune telling things. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/15 "2006-10-25T18:14:32Z")
Fortune tellers around these parts. ---
**Author:** ![ReneePhillips10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@ReneePhillips10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReneePhillips10)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/16 "2006-11-03T16:43:12Z")
Yes… seems kind of regional… found out someone else calls them SnapDragons!! ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name/377614/17 "2006-11-03T16:55:20Z")
Haven’t seen one since elementary school - never made one. I do remember that the girls called them snapdragons. (IIRC, the guys were never really in to making them)