Monday 4 April 2011

Survival of the fittest


A book which - on the face of it - might seem useful on a desert island, but unless you're looking for a Man Friday, might be better suited to a friday night trawl around the bars and nightclubs.

I was never attracted to scouting when I was a kid, and I don't think that I had a single friend who was. Baden-Powell had some interesting ideas about Onanism, apparently, so it might be worth getting a copy of this book just to find out what they were.

It occurs to me that I haven't seen a troupe of scouts wandering around with tin-cans (iCans?) swinging from their back-packs for quite a while. There was always something very creepy about seeing a 50 year-old man wearing short trousers and long socks, in charge of a group of impressionable young lads, but maybe that says more about me than them.

Were any of you lot scouts or guides?

20 comments:

  1. Here's a little test for you: Does the image above look blurred to you? If so, you were warned about the ill effects of Onanism between the covers of that very book, so you should have read it in your youth.

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  2. A very good friend of ours is a scout leader. He has done that since his 4 sons were small. Many groups are started through church affiliations as his was and ours is too. This man has continued it and now has grown children but feels it gives youth a guide to growing that is invaluable. It is about teaching respect, survival skills, doing for others, friendly competition and forming friendships. My husband too did it when our children were small for a few years. I admire all that are in it. There can be a few bad apples in it but arent they everywhere?
    As for Onanism, ....what is it???

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  3. Okay, now I don't feel badly about yet another thing I need to google. Someone else needs to know.
    And to answer the question, No, I was never much of a joiner.

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  4. I was a Brownie. We used to dance round a plastic toadstool in the village hall and practice semaphore. My brother had much more fun in the Boy Scouts (camping trips and bob-a-job)but they wouldn't let me join.

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  5. I think 'The Woodcraft Folk' do similar activities, Donna (I don't know about Onanism, I'm talking about other outdoor activities), and I think the parents all take turns to conduct the meetings and trips.

    'Bob-a-job' - those were the days! I think it is a minimum call-out charge of £5 these days, and has probably been stopped for H & E reasons, like semaphore. Brownies looked so cute, and Brown Owl always looked so motherly - like a big hen.

    What is 'Onanism'? Well, when practiced 'al fresco', it is also known as 'feeding the chickens'.

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  6. I was a brownie too!
    or was that just a strange wish of mine....it all ( like the photo) blurres into one!

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  7. I was a Brownie. But Mom couldn't afford the vest, or the skirt, or the badges or any of it and they got really pissy about that. I was a Brownie dropout at age eight. No biggie. They kept having these stupid daddy-daughter date nights, which my dad would never attend. Useless.

    If I could be a brownie today, it would be double fudge. Then I'd chomp myself up in one bite.

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  8. I was a Guide for a few years but don't think I was very good at it - certainly never learned to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together.

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  9. John says he was a fudge brownie, Amy - and I bet he knew how to rub two sticks together. (sorry - I am expecting double revenge for that...)

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  10. Snork! Sorry, spilt me tea at John's comment.

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  11. how I used to like to dib dib dib!!

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  12. I bet you had a gadget on your pen-knife to get out of situations like that, John.

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  13. And Ging Gang Goolie Goolie Goolie Whatsits.

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  14. Missed off one 'Goolie' - sorry.

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  15. Lady Magnon was in the Girl Guides in Washingto DC. Her mother was the troupe 'leader', so she had ALL the badges; we still have them!

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  16. I hope we have managed to confuse our way out of a tricky situation, John. Maybe I had better see if I can find a recording so everyone can be even more confused.

    George W Bush was in the same privileged situation with his father, Cro.

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  17. I was a girl scout. I loved my official GS knife with all the cool gadgets.

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  18. Aren't you part Native American anyway, Tess? I thought those scouts wore bowler hats with feathers in them and smoked European pipes whilst following trails? Who needs the Peace Force? (to quote Frank Zappa).

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