The Case of the Stuck Tongue

Nine-year-old Ralphie wants nothing in life more than a Red Rider BB gun. He plots and schemes but no matter where he turns, he is thwarted by the mantra that all adults seem destined to utter, "You'll shoot your eye out." This is a simple story of one family at Christmas time and follows Ralphie as he goes to school, deals with his parents, and keeps fighting to get his BB gun.

Ultimately, Ralphie's "Old Man" gives in and buys Ralphie his BB gun for Christmas, stating that he had one himself when he was 8 years old. Ralphie eagerly runs outside in his boots and pajamas to "try it out," but the BB ricochets off his glasses, injuring him slightly and briefly, but temporarily concerning him that he did not shoot his eye out.

One of the many subplots in this 1983 movie include Ralphie's friends Flick and Schwartz disputing over whether or not a person's tongue will stick to a frozen flagpole. Schwartz gives Flick a "triple dog dare," and Flick's tongue gets stuck to the pole, much to his terror.

We received a Christmas card in the mail yesterday. The picture was of a little boy with his tongue stuck on the flag pole. Tom looked at the picture, he recognized the hat with the flaps and the buckle overshoes. Thanks for the memories, Lisa!

In emailing Shirley, I told her about how someone must have told me my tongue was really strong and I could actually open the door with it. And so, one cold winter day, I lay my entire tongue on the knob and tried to turn the knob. The knob did not turn and my tongue was stuck. The doorbell was within reach, I rang, and Grandma came to my rescue. She poured water over the knob and my tongue released without much damage. I learned the lesson.

Tom, on the other hand, did it several times. But he was a tester. He only stuck a bit of his tongue on the pole; he only lost a little skin each time, which he guesses was a dozen times. Which just goes to show the differences in personality. Go for broke OR test several times. :)

My question to you is; do you have memories of being stuck to a pole?

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