whut?

[woolymonkey]

This morning's email from the monkey school:

Dear Families
We have recently been made aware of a new "craze" among certain students of grabbing someone around the neck, and throttling them so that they pass out for several seconds.
Needless to say we have banned this highly dangerous "pastime" at school but wished to alert parents in case their offspring decide to indulge in this "party trick" over the Christmas period.
Regards
Heads of School

Meanwhile, the crucial information on whether monkeys will be released at lunchtime or 3pm remains Top Sekrit. Spider is at home anyway (feeling better, but wobbly). I'll see Squirrel when I see him--assuming he hasn't been "strangled" or "arrested" for "monkeyslaughter" in the "meantime".

Comments

[penknife.livejournal.com]

... because otherwise parents might be fine with allowing their kids to strangle each other over the Christmas holidays?

... because otherwise parents might worry that the school was telling their kids "Go ahead, throttle away! It's quieter when you're all unconscious"?

Messages from school can be so weird.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Blibble?
Glad to hear Spider is feeling somewhat better. (Evidence is mounting that what I had was probably food poisoning. But I sympathise with him anyway.)

[amenirdis.livejournal.com]

Yeah.... Wednesday they had a "fire drill" occasioned by one of the middle school boys (aka 11-13) setting a restroom garbage can on "fire." Thus requiring all the little kids to "stand" out in the cold.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Kids, killing each other is bad. Nearly killing each other is bad too.

Because how can they know this if we don't tell them?

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Apparently it's called 'sleeper hold'.

I'm puzzled how evidence of food poisoning can mount so long after the event. Did the marquis eat the leftovers and keel over?

I'm sure Spider's is viral, but it seems reasonably mild.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Brrrrrrrrrrr.

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

There was an episode of 'Criminal Minds' about that (the strangling thing) except they were encouraged via e-mail to Do It Themselves in their bedrooms. It was sold as some sort of 'legal high'. All very suspect (I wonder if anyone's checked Snopes?)

[penknife.livejournal.com]

Kids, don't strangle each other for fun. (If you want to get high, just do drugs.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

No, but triaging of symptoms and contacts plus past history make it likely. Which is irritating, because the guilty substance looks to be jerusalem artichokes, which I love, but which have given me mild problems in the past, and this time, well...

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

They banned it in my school in 1983. I don't remember if a note went home (it would have been mimeoed, not emailed)

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are so young! We didn't have things like sleeper hold when I was a girl.