When you were a kid, playing tag, what did you call the safety zone (like, say, if you were touching a certain tree, you couldn't be tagged It)?

-- gilbert in chicago (gilbert8@prodigy.net), January 30, 2002

Answers

The porch! Same with Kick the Can!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), January 30, 2002.

Would that be "Ole, Ole, Ocean Free"?

-- Jim (telephone_man@msn.com), January 30, 2002.

Jim, ole ole ocean free is a different can of worms (my father insisted it was ollie ollie oxen free, and I think that was for Hide And Seek, not tag).

-- gilbert in chicago (gilbert8@prodigy.net), January 30, 2002.

How about we called the free zone HOME and the person who was it called out "allye, allye, all come free".

Susan

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), January 30, 2002.

I suspose Kick the Can was played differently around the country. Don't remember how you got to be it, but everyone else tried to hide. If you saw someone you would call out "I see (so and so)" and race back to the can. If you beat the person back there, they were caught and had to stay at a certain spot. If someone not caught kicked the can while you weren't looking or there, they would call out something like the Ollie, Ollie, All Go Free. That released the captured ones and the 'it' person had to start over.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 30, 2002.

I'm with your father, oxen free!

When playing tag, we called it "base" here in Oklahoma. It's fun to see what it was called in other areas!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), January 30, 2002.

We called it base in the L.A. area. What fun these questions are. I hadn't thought of tag for years.

-- Anna in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), January 30, 2002.

Base was the no tag area.

ANd I go with oxen free.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 30, 2002.

Oxen free...........and we tagged "FREE"!!!!

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 30, 2002.

We used to plan Tunnel Tag. If you were frozen, you had to stand with your legs apart and someone else had to slide through. It was great to play on a hillside and on wet grass.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), January 31, 2002.

Back to the safety zone - A lot of people I've asked called it gool, and I've since discovered that almost everyone under 30 says glue. Anyone here ever call it by those names?

-- gilbert in chicago (gilbert8@prodigy.net), January 31, 2002.

I was a military brat so I grew up kind of everywhere but mostly North Dakota and we called it base. We also played kick the can but if "IT" saw you he had to run back to the can and jump over it. He would yell "Over the can on Jenny" and the first one caught would be it the next round but only after everyone was found. But if I could beat "IT" back to the can and kick the can before he could jump over it he would ha ve tpo kneel on the can and count again while everyone hid again. ANd when the can was kickes we yelled "oley oley oxen free"

-- Jenny in Spokane (made4andy@yahoo.com), January 31, 2002.

We called it home base; and what we hollered was actually All the, all the outs in free - so that all the kids who were still "out"; ie: not tagged, would know to come in. 'Course, being kids, "All the" usually sounded a lot more like "Olley".

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), January 31, 2002.