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Archive 1

Arrestable offense

Citation needed for saying that its an arrestable offence. 82.152.155.58 12:04, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

"Knock Down Ginger is a child's game"

Though obviously a children's game is usually childish, it would seem more fitting to just state it's a "children's game", wouldn't it? --LarsMessy 19:27, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure it's a teen/college/drunk adult game, too.--Pittsburghmuggle 21:12, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Deterrent

Added a paragraph about possible deterrent that is commonly known at least where I grew up, fairly sure I've seen it in movies also. If it is not the right place for it feel free to move or delete after giving a good reason for such action.(IRMacGuyver (talk) 11:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC))

Found it in other section about pop culture. This article requires major clean up. Any sugestions would be helpful.(IRMacGuyver (talk) 11:40, 7 December 2007 (UTC))

Variations?

Is it really necessary for so many variations? I wasn't sure, so I edited a few that sounded more like instructions to the reader on how to ding dong ditch as opposed to simply methods that some people use with ding dong ditching.

-DaniDaniDanica (talk) 01:15, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Citation needed

Citation needed for this claim: "The original term Dylan Dylan Ten Doors". This is as unlikely a name as I have ever seen in print, and was probably added by someone who called it that when they were kids, and assumed it was invented in their neighborhood. Michael.Urban (talk) 18:33, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Flaming bag: variation?

would the act (I seen it in media, but never heard of it done in real life) of leaving a bag of flaming (animal of choice) excrement on the doorstep, then ringing and running count as a Ding Dong Ditch variation or a prank on it's own? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.130.185.110 (talk) 20:46, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

NickyNicky9Door (talk) 21:49, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Or pissing in a nigger's letter box?

Hello, in French

(variations, suite) Or putting a big enveloppe full of dead red crickets (it was just after a plague of them had come and gone) in somebody's mail-box, ring, ditch behind a cactus hedge (red and yellow flowers in full bloom, and bees at work among them...) & see the face of the poor woman as she comes out quickly, believing it's the mail man, and opens the letter...Makes me suddenly remember she was a Mme Llull...So not only "niggers" were aimed at...So sorry (after 55 years...) Mme Llull, we were headless little brats... BTW, in french we did not have any special name fot that "game" : it was plainly "tirer le sonnettes" (pulling bell-strings), & it used to earn us a lot of bashes & "coups de pieds au cul" (ass-kicking) Whos said Wiktionary was not there to be used as a Proust's madeleine...? Ah, yes , it's Wiktionary's WOTD... T.y. Arapaima (talk) 07:49, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

"Staircase recollection" ("esprit de l'escalier") : what we call "criquet pélerin" (pilgrim locust) is your "desert locust" , your "cricket" is actually our black chirping fire-side "grillon". And "Ding dong ditch" is also an episode of MTV animated television series "Beavis and Butt-head"...(did'nt see it, does it begin with ringing a neighbour's bell, & end with his house arson ?) T.y. Arapaima (talk) 07:46, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

'Controversy?'

The section entitled 'controversy' simply describes a single act of gun violence. A sociopath shooting some kid isn't 'controversy.' Simply describing the incident doesn't actually say anything about how controversial the prank is. 'Controversy' suggests a public outcry or a polarized populace- that incident only shows that one person didn't like it enough to use lethal force against a group of kids. So I changed the name of the section to something that actually describes the contents.24.146.204.47 (talk) 15:26, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

How enforceable is the 1848 legislation?

This idea that you could spend 14 days in choky for the crime may act as a bogeyman and stop children doing it, but how enforceable is this sentence? I'd be surprised if there wasn't a public outcry if someone was locked up for 14 days for the crime. 86.179.118.231 (talk) 10:05, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Offense/offence

There has been an edit war about this spelling. As the reference is to UK legislation, the spelling needs to be 'offence'. Codspell (talk) 11:19, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Agree as a reason for UK spelling and my apologies, I had mistakenly thought the word change was in another, US-related section. The IP in question however otherwise seems to solely edit to change valid spellings with no such strong national ties and makes no reponse to edit summaries or posts on their talk page, other than blanking them. Mutt Lunker (talk) 19:19, 1 September 2012 (UTC)
Codspell is probably the IP in question. User:SummerPhD#Dynamic_IP_WP:ENGVAR_vandal - SummerPhD (talk) 20:32, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Origins

Per the claim in the lede, the idea that knocking on a door and running away is a comparatively recent (19th century) invention and has its origins in a particular location is uncited and patently not credible. Perhaps this pertains to the term "Knock, Knock, Ginger" but that isn't how the article reads and would also need a ref. This activity is cross cultural and surely dates back to the invention of the door. Mutt Lunker (talk) 12:35, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Legality

The last sentence in said section suggests that the shooting was lawful. The reference states that the shooter ws charged with attempted murder. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.155.202.249 (talk) 00:08, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

I think you ought to read it again: there is no such suggestion and the article indeed states that he was charged. Mutt Lunker (talk) 10:51, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Undiscussed name change of this article

It is evident that the subject of this article goes by a plethora of names in the English-speaking world, let alone the world as a whole. Being Scottish, the term employed for the article "Knock, Knock, Ginger" is not the one I would employ but it would not be appropriate for me to change to a term I know better because, per MOS:ENGVAR, there is to be no preference shown to any particular variety of English. The article was writtten under this title and the subject has no particular tie to any one country so there is no compelling justification to move it. Also, to do so is very much not a WP:MINOR edit. In many cases, Wikipedia:Redirects have beeen created so that anyone searching for one of the alternative terms will be redirected automatically to this article without a problem. Mutt Lunker (talk) 12:15, 4 July 2017 (UTC)

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Names for game

In the area I grew up we called it "knocky-door Danger", i think this should at least be added to the list of names. Obviously the interesting fact is the word that the word "Danger" encompassed the nature of the game more than "Ginger". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.170.19.176 (talk) 18:57, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Another name for this is "nigger knocking" - albeit a racist phraseology, I think it should be included in the article. --24.178.4.45 22:29, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

We called it "nigger knocking" when I was a kid in the 80's, too. I'm not particularly proud of it, but that's what my neighbors who introduced me to it called it. Thankfully, my kids call it "ding dong ditch".--Pittsburghmuggle 11:32, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
I also think it may deserve mention, as inappropriate as it may be, as this was also how myself and the kids in my neighborhood referred to it. This would be during the late 80's early 90's in the Urban midwest. 24.118.49.238 (talk) 17:32, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
I'm a 90's kid from the Midwest, and "nigger knocking" was definitely what this game was referred to most when I was growing up.

--98.212.193.135 (talk) 16:32, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

We also called it "n**ger knock" back in the 80's... It really does deserve a mention. I know it's a racist term. I'm located in the midwest. I guess it was a regional name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.188.237.2 (talk) 19:34, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

"Nigger knocking" is not racist like it sounds. It's obviously a corruption of "Knick-a-knocking" (the British term), rather than having anything to do with African American people. 173.35.204.79 (talk) 06:40, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
Even though it might be a corruption of the name "knick-a-knocking," nigger-knocking is in many ways a distinct phenomenon of racial harassment. Anecdotal evidence collected in various news articles describes it as a particular way to harass black or interracial households. While many folks who went "nigger-knocking" as youths might not have been targeting people of color, there were some who made a concerted effort to only knock on the doors of African-American or mixed race homes as a way to frighten the individuals living there.

In NYC, we called it "Ring and Run". Obviously it is self-explanatory —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.216.75.111 (talk) 19:18, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Seconded... in New Jersey, I have only heard it called "Ring and Run," where you ring a doorbell and run away. Can someone please add this?--Amada 18:37, 03 October 2007 (UTC)

We always called is Cherry Knocking where I came from in England. 81.23.54.142 (talk) 20:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

When I was growing up in the 1970s in Kansas City suburbia this game was known only as "nigger knocking". Please add. PCB

I grew up in Northern Virginia in the 1970s and I seem to recall "knicker knocking" as well as "nigger", because "nigger" was already becoming unspeakable. Knickers were known as old-timey pants, so in addition to being more polite, this seemed to establish the game as an old-timey tradition like soaping windows or tying tin cans to cars. Did anybody else experience a "nigger" to "knicker" transition period?

I grew up in Northern Wisconsin in the 80s/90s. This game was only known as "nigger knocking". This should definitely be added to the page. However, when I tried to add it to the this it was immediately reverted as being "vandalism". This is supposed to be an excyclopedia! Nwbh (talk) 15:19, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Cite a reliable source and add this source right after the name inserted. The term is inherently racist and therefor easy to mistake for vandalism. If the the term is indeed widespread and sources it should be added - otherwise it is better left out. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 15:25, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

"Knock, Knock, Ginger"? Good God, come on - it's Nigger Knocking. Not a very nice name, but this is an encyclopaedia and should reflect what the prank is actually referred to.69.205.4.115 (talk) 15:47, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Oh man, now you guys are just trolling. - M0rphzone (talk) 07:32, 23 October 2012 (UTC)
I feel vindicated that someone actually found a reference to the name and cited it on the main page. --Varkman (talk) 10:39, 15 February 2014 (UTC)
We call it chickenelly. Always have. I'd never heard it called anything else until I saw this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.129.4.236 (talk) 16:20, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

This was called "Nigger Knocking" in many parts of the US in the 1970s - 1990s. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/hhy5a/as_a_kid_what_did_you_call_the_game_where_you/

That source would not be regarded as reliable here. Mutt Lunker (talk) 10:13, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Every source I can find through Google Scholar, and there are dozens, seems to indicate that the "game" was played by specifically harassing African Americans. I'm not able, though, to find a source that clearly defines what the game entails which isn't behind a paywall. The writer at Cinemasins Youtube channel seems to believe this name was the original version of the game, which is some indication to me that the confusion shown in this thread is widespread among Americans. --IronMaidenRocks (talk) 10:55, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

References

I've just put the comprehensive list of names back, because anyone searching for one of those names will miss the article if they are not in there. I've started the mammoth task of working though the names to find a decent ref for each of them. Some of them you get such a deluge of hits that it is obvious that they are real, and some of them you get no hits at all. The point is - many of these names are real, so you shouldn't wipe that whole section just because nobody can be bothered to take the time to reference something.Jmackaerospace (talk) 19:19, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for this. Even though the source for 'knock and run' seems pretty weak just being a blog post, this is the only thing I've every known it as and would he struggled to find it if it weren't present on the page. R.I.McGhee (talk) 22:40, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

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