The Q and A entry below reminded me that in Junior High School we used to circulate Slam Books. Note books, like, say, a secretarial dictation book, used to be passed around. Each page had question on it, much like the Q and A below. Lines were numbered, and you answered the question on your numbered line. So it looked like this>>
Page one: Choose your line
1--Jerry
2--Jenny
3--Tom
4--Felice
5--Chuck
Etc,
Page two: what is your favorite food?
1--Fried Chicken
2--Big Mac, fries, chocolate shake,
3--Peppermint stick ice cream, toll house cookies
4--Liver and onions...just kidding...broccoli...still kidding
5--Mom's spaghetti
Etc.
Page three: Best friend's name
1--Karen
2--Tom
3--Jenny
4--Tom
5--Felice
Etc.
And so on for many "favorite" questions. They were called slam books because in the later pages you posted a one line comment about the person named on the top of the page; thus
Page 31: What do you think about Anna
1--Talks too much
2--Mascara? Oh, come on.
3--Great eyes
4--Giggles when she is near any boy
5--Goofy about Chad. Digs Tom Hanks movies. Lose some weight, Anna
Slam books were against school rules, but they circulated anyway. I think they caused lots of hurt feelings... but that was Junior High life. The what is your favorite this or that was fun, and you could compare all the answers with your own. You could see how you "fit in" .
The fun part was being creative. You could compliment someone you "really liked", or you could pan someone you didn't. The hard part was reading what the gang thought about you.
Do they still exist... or do they live on now in our Journals?
7 comments:
They certainly sound a lot of fun. Do not remember them in schools over here, like you said maybe they live on journals now lol.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/Family
I remember slam books! Having six kids in my home, we had them circulating in our house as well. Unfortunately, I got a little hurt by slam books. I still remember it to this day. Hmmm.... makes you wonder. I do wonder if they are still around. I am sure they are in some sort of fashion. Somehow. Neat entry, Chuck! xox
Thank you for your visit. Yes, the highwayman is a wonderful poem, so descriptive. You mentioned The Listeners. I posted that on my journals a few weeks back! Great minds think alike lol. All the best xxxx
Sure the SLAM parts exist...EVERYWHERE, but likely are typed on a keyboard, i.e. cell phones! Why ARE kids so cruel?
I was trying to remember what, if any, equivalent we had in my adolescent years. Perhaps I've blocked them out?
Kate
I've never heard of this. Certainly it seems to have its online equivalents now. - K
Wow...not to make you feel old, but I had no idea the concept of a slam book went back so far. I never ran into one personally, but I read about them in a couple different "pre-teen" type books as a youngster. I'm rather glad no one in my school decided to start one. The kids did enough cruel stuff to each other without putting it in writting for a group.
Never heard of Slam books, maybe I didn't really miss much.
Love Sylvia
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