Althouse: 95 things kids are afraid of, including the PBS logo...

January 3, 2011

95 things kids are afraid of, including the PBS logo...

... and lots of things that might crawl up out of the toilet.

36 comments:

chickelit said...: Tornado's; 1/3/11, 4:08 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Tornado's what?

Tornado's face? Because I had a nightmare about that when I was a kid.; 1/3/11, 4:09 PM
chickelit said...: Their vortices.; 1/3/11, 4:10 PM
Toad Trend said...: Clowns, for sure.

Tampons?; 1/3/11, 4:11 PM
chickelit said...: My mother was big into cleaning: link; 1/3/11, 4:12 PM
SteveR said...: My Calculus professor; 1/3/11, 4:20 PM
Toad Trend said...: Ahh the white tornado!

"Cool it, fellas..."

Yeah you take a good whiff of that old stuff and a major headrush was on its way.; 1/3/11, 4:21 PM
ricpic said...: This is a BS list. When I was a kid I had a 5 block walk to school. Anyway, the 1st block consisted of a butcher shop, a chinese laundry, a Five & Dime, a luncheonette and a corner gas station. Guess which place scared me? You guessed it: the chinese laundry. The chink scared the hell out of me and I always ran as fast as I could past his door. Who cares if it's not PC, that's what scares kids.; 1/3/11, 4:26 PM
Phil 314 said...: What, no flying monkeys!!

The flying monkeys of the "The Wizard of Oz" used to scare the s**t out of me when I was a kid.

And those talking apple trees, too.

(The green witch...not so much.); 1/3/11, 4:26 PM
chickelit said...: Yeah you take a good whiff of that old stuff and a major headrush was on its way.

Why ammonia is like a penis: link; 1/3/11, 4:29 PM
traditionalguy said...: A 1958 Plymouth Fury that stalks you. In fact all objects that act possessed by evil forces. Humans are ok, except for the Germans in Schindler's List.; 1/3/11, 4:31 PM
Toad Trend said...: @chickelit

"Why ammonia is like a penis:"

Umm, no, that's not at all what I was thinking. More like Curious George after he finds the ether.; 1/3/11, 4:42 PM
chickelit said...: Umm, no, that's not at all what I was thinking. More like Curious George after he finds the ether.

Yeah, ether that or this; 1/3/11, 4:49 PM
MamaM said...: Some of newer toilets at freeway/turnpike reststops have flushes that sound like dragons. I'm not surprised whenever I hear a little voice in one of the stalls say something like "That was loud!", and then see a small child come out holding their mom's hand while looking backwards.

My dad stocked the children's corner of his 60's style office waiting room with an Etch A Sketch and a stack of Walt Disney Comic books. He'd bring the older comics home when new arrived by mail. I was sure a Big Bad Wolf with blue pants lived in the thicket outside our bathroom window on the backside of the house. I avoided playing outdoors in that area for a several years.; 1/3/11, 4:58 PM
Unknown said...: The witch of the west? ( the bad , ugly, green one)in the Wizard of Oz. The day Speed Racer died. The banana´s split dogs; 1/3/11, 5:44 PM
Unknown said...: Charlie Boning, my math teacher, grades 4 - 6. My luck, he was also my home room guy in 6th grade. I've often wondered how I survived.

Him and going over the Delaware River Bridge. Always scared me purple, although I have to say Charlie cured me of test anxiety.

Belkys said...

The witch of the west? ( the bad , ugly, green one)in the Wizard of Oz

You mean Elphaba?; 1/3/11, 5:55 PM
Unknown said...: Sorry , i din not know english by that time. I was living with my parents in Coral Gable , they were doing graduated studies there. I only saw the movie because we were read the Wizard of Oz every day after lunch at the school. I did not saw the par of the witch. I only heard her screaming, i do not know here name; 1/3/11, 6:16 PM
knox said...: I was scared to step onto an escalator going down. Up didn't bother me.; 1/3/11, 6:50 PM
The Scythian said...: The obviously fake sets on pre-1980's television shows would unnerve me as a child. They wouldn't make me cry and scream, but they would fill me with a kind of weird creeping dread.; 1/3/11, 6:51 PM
Irene said...: I was afraid of women who wore the 1950s-style deep, red lipstick. It was the kind that came in the little mini tubes (I recall Avon had them in white and pink). The lipstick was extraordinarily matte, had a faint odor, and stained teeth.

I am still afraid of escalators, marionettes, clowns, and uninteresting jobs.; 1/3/11, 6:57 PM
Unknown said...: Belkys said...

Sorry , i din not know english by that time.

I wasn't teasing. There's a musical called, "Wicked", and it's something of a pre-quel to the "Wizard of Oz".

Among other things, we learn the WWW's real name is Elphaba.; 1/3/11, 6:59 PM
chickelit said...: I was also afraid of automatic doors at the Piggly Wiggly. I tried to go in the exit door as a kid. A lady didn't see me and pushed her cart out. I was barefoot and the door ripped all the toenails from my foot like tiddlywinks.; 1/3/11, 7:22 PM
Anonymous said...: The creatures in the forest in Alice in Wonderland, still creep me out.; 1/3/11, 7:38 PM
Toad Trend said...: @chickelit

"I was also afraid of automatic doors at the Piggly Wiggly. I tried to go in the exit door as a kid. A lady didn't see me and pushed her cart out. I was barefoot and the door ripped all the toenails from my foot like tiddlywinks."

Owwww.; 1/3/11, 8:01 PM
Methadras said...: The new State Farm commercials where everyone stares at the guy in a wierd way while he's talking about life insurance.; 1/3/11, 8:05 PM
Deb said...: Nuclear war. And something called "rooster man" who my parents said lived in the banks of the Chattahoochee River, near my house. Supposedly he came and peeked in little childrens' windows at night.; 1/3/11, 8:06 PM
The Scythian said...: Rooster man? I know that guy. He's a cock.; 1/3/11, 9:30 PM
traditionalguy said...: A real fear as a child was old barb wire strands from ancient and nearly invisible split rail fences.; 1/3/11, 9:49 PM
George Myers said...: Three lane concrete roads. The middle for either passing or turning. Out in front of the lawyers, an entry for Herb's Tavern or the Assumption Catholic church, across from the once old one-room schoolhouse, until re-engineered and a traffic light, I used to wake up hearing some "doozies" of vehicle accidents in Centereach, NY. There used to be a bear pushing a baby carriage billboard for "Behr's" but no room for the proverbial officer.; 1/3/11, 11:49 PM
jamboree said...: Around 5-yrs-old:

The men's suit jacket half-mannequins with their heads cut off at the neck that were in the display window of the department store. Severed heads=Bad Sales Imagery in my opinion.

The Confessional. (Thankfully, my parents stopped going to Church before I ever had to go.)

Cap guns - due to the neighbor kid's chunky (husky) bully brother - a pair of brats that put a chair in front of the playroom door so I couldn't escape, covered me with a blanket and shot caps off in my ears when I was under five. I finally got out by pushing the lounger away from the door and running home, but remained afraid of cap guns...

leading to my...

Fear of my brother's motorcycle - too loud and like a cap gun, never rode it.

I think that's it for childhood proper; adolescence was another story.; 1/4/11, 12:30 AM
jamboree said...: Oh forgot - TV shows that opened with implied murders - some young woman being stalked etc. - really scared the absolute crap out of me.; 1/4/11, 12:31 AM
Penny said...: My little girl prayer...

"Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me, bless thy little lamb tonight; through the darkness be thou near me, keep me safe till morning light."

It seemed to me that if I had to pray to god to keep me safe until I woke up, there must be something REALLY bad that he knew, that I didn't know.; 1/4/11, 1:10 AM
jamboree said...: Forgot the biggie:

My Eventual Death (which most of my lesser childhood fears recall anyway...); 1/4/11, 1:27 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: O.K., Stop It (You Guys Are Scaring People); 1/4/11, 3:32 AM
Old RPM Daddy said...: My dad's loud, loud power tools! The saber saw was bad enough, but I could be in the garage while he used it. The circular saw emitted an ear-piercing shriek as it cut, and I hated it; fortunately, he didn't use it often. The table saw was the worst, though. I went back inside the house when he turned it on.; 1/4/11, 9:27 AM
stepskipper said...: Puppets with human hands, like Ernie from Sesame street.

Catholic sacred heart portraits in my grandparents homes scared the hell out of me, no idea why.; 1/4/11, 9:48 AM