Lots of Stupid Fun
The "Stupid Fun" series focuses on the under-appreciated art of silliness. This time, I'm highlighting Armpit Sounds.
My younger son (because of his broken wrist, we refer to him as One Armed Bandit) ran to me at the end of his first day of summer camp declaring, "Look what Justin taught me!!" The look of triumph and satisfaction on his face when a loud fart sound came from his armpit was equal to his expression on the day he first learned to walk.
I can honestly say that I never learned to make armpit sounds, so the science involved eludes me, but the part I do get is that it requires one cupped hand under the opposite armpit and a decisive move with the elbow. Is it a boy thing? Do I know any girls who did this when we were kids? Or did they save it for the privacy of their own home? Ah the questions that haunt us at 5 in the morning...
Now one armpit fart can be pretty funny, especially when delivered by such and enthusiastic performer, but three weeks into the skill our household has been over-run by it. Lets just say, the bloom is off the vine. And yet the other day, when my son got together with a friend he had not seen since the beginning of the summer, he was delighted to be greeted by his friend's gleeful declaration, "I learned how to make fart sounds! Listen!"
I've gotta admit, the back and forth armpit sound conversation that followed gave me a giggle.
posted by Mutha @ 7:17 AM
4 Comments:
The learning of the old armpit fart is truly one of the great iconic childhood moments for kids of the male persuasion. Sadly, my technique never quite measured up to those of some of my peers...the end result being a kind of wimpy, low volume performance that routinely landed me in the second tier of "coolness" above only those poor, unfortunate tikes who could muster no noise whatsoever.
As an adult, my appreciation (tolerance) of our own kids making the discovery was about a day, give or take an hour or two...by day two I was reduced to the "been there done that" half smile that parents offer when they're not quite ready to shut down a behavior but instead are hoping that the decreased attention will lead the child to make the call on his own.
i confess to having burp conversations with my husband. then we break into a rousing chorus of jeanette mcdonald and nelson eddy's 'When I'm Calling Youuuuuu" and crack up like morons.
yeah, another sophisticated evenings entertainment, yep yep yep...
FN: Actually Scissors does the burping while talking thing. What can I tell you a man of many languages? I yell at him though to which he responds "Come on - you grew up with 5 brothers?!" My response is that I believe it had an ill effect on me.
Mutha! My daughter (hence a girl) is quite expert at the underarm fart. She's 8. Have to admit she's pretty good (she's takes after her father with language it seems). She picked it up at last summer's camp (money well spent). It does wear a little thin. I never could do it but I can whistle really loudly (although I have to use two hands not the one handed manuever (thumb and index finger in mouth).
...as she turns her back to the door to avoid getting caught by the assistant in a coma attempting the armpit fart.
I can whistle with the thumb and middle finger...REAL loud. It is a great trick to have under your belt. The other day, I was walking with a business associate who had to make a plane at Logan. He said, "Oh darn, there's a cab, but he's looking the other way." I let the whistle rip and the cab swung to the curb on cue.
The look on his face was the giggle for that day.
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