Detroit old-timers: Do you remember "calling" your friends?

[shugah]

back in the old days in detroit when we wanted to play with our friends we used to go stand on their porch and call out their names at the top of our lungs in a very specific cadence. 2 syllable names were the easiest. for instance, if your friend was named "lisa" you would call "lee-SAAAAAAAH! lee-SAAAAAAAH!" if it was a one syllable name, you turned it into two, e.g. john was called thusly - "juh-OOOOOOONNNN! juh-OOOOOONNNN!" you always sang the name called twice. if there was no response, you might repeat the call after a pause.

when your Mom asked you what you were going to do you would say "i'm going to call Suzie."

i think this was specific to detroit - or at least my childhood neighborhood ...

anyone else use this method to get friends to come out and play back in the day?

[TahitiNut]

1. Of course. "Mrs. Spafford, can Jimmy come out to play???"

"Jiiimmmm-MYYYYY!"

"Donnn-NNYYYY!"

"Miiiiii-KEEEEEY!"


Parents would also call us in. Mother'd go out the side door or on the front porch and yell "Miii-CKEY! Dinner Time!"

Lot's of yelling in those days. Never hear it anymore.

[shugah]

4. yep, and

be home before the streetlights come on

[MichiganVote]

2. Used it all the time in GR. Not specific to Detroit.

[shugah]

5. there was no calling friends up north

i don't recall how we hooked up with friends but i do remember that we didn't call after we moved up north.

[daggahead]

3. I grew up in Warren ...

This was normal for me and my friends to do.

Back in the day, we could also find enough kids to have a baseball game during the summer. Usually, though, you'd have to call your field because there was usually only 2 or 3 on each team.

I also remember playing "kick the can" late into the summer night.

[shugah]

6. we used to play in the street

well, not me so much - i was never much good at the sporty things. but i do remember the game would stop and everyone would go stand by the curb when a car came by.

my 8 year old calls his friends on the phone when he wants to play. he wants ("needs" to hear him tell it) a cell phone so he can call them. they all live a couple of houses away!

[1gobluedem]

7. My parents and cousins did that

I was astonished the first time I saw/heard it in action. I think it's cool -- much cooler than calling on the phone which is what we did.

[sufrommich]

8. My brother and cousins and I joke about this all the time

and still call each other to "come out and play" like that.lol!

[spartan61]

9. OMG, I sure do remember this!!!

I grew up in Lincoln Park and ALWAYS called my best friend to come out and play. "RO-SETT-AAAAAA" Such wonderful memories. Also played Kick the Can and Hide and Seek on the street in the neighborhood on summer nights. On Halloween we never went trick or treating. We went out "begging." "Help the Poorrrrr." Does anyone else remember this???

[1gobluedem]

10. Yes, the Halloween begging

My parents (from Detroit's east side) remember this fondly.

[TahitiNut]

11. Last Halloween, I tried to get some kids to say "Help the poor!" ...

... and they looked at me like I was from another planet. :rofl: Some of the parents, however, piped up with their remembrances ... nostalgia.

[JNelson6563]

12. I sure do remember that!

Grew up on the east side, that's how we rolled back then. :toast:

Julie

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

13. Yep!

Grew up on the west side, that's what we did!
:bounce:

[LisaM]

14. I asked my friend who grew up on the west side and she remembers doing it

She said that you always went to the side or the back - you never did this at the front door.

I vaguely, VAGUELY, remember doing this in Mt. Clemens. We moved away from the Metro area when we were pretty little. I don't know if I remember doing it myself, or hearing other people do it. We moved to the Lansing area, and we never did it there.

[veganlush]

15. Great post ! I was just telling my kids about that a few weeks ago..

..when it popped into my head for some reason. They looked at me with a mixture of surprise and pity! It was as though the doorbell and telephone were almost strickly the domains of the adults back then, although I remember my mother calling us home, when we were a block away and on the next street, by cupping her hands to her mouth and yelling our names at the top of her lungs from the back porch. I grew up in Harper Woods, one street away from Detroit.:hi:

[shugah]

16. yep! i remember my mom calling us in too.

four of us - and it was like one looooooooong name. :hi:

[sufrommich]

17. My mom would call us the same way, and every other Mom

did too, I grew up in Westland. I love your description of telephones and doorbells being the domain of adults,how true! My 12 year old niece (who has a cell phone!!!) looks at me in horror when I tell her I had to get permission to use the phone at her age.