Since then it’s been used as a fun way to ask and answer questions like “will I become a millionaire?” It’s up to the creator to decide on the answers, or the question that must be asked. The use of the chatterbox as paper fortune tellers date back to school playgrounds in England, in the 1950s. Tiny dots would be drawn inside the cootie catcher to represent bugs, and the corners of the cootie catcher would act as pincers, trapping all the cooties inside! Girls were considered contagious until a friend used a cootie catcher to rid her of diseases. However, it was more popularly known as a playground term used to describe pretend “germs” that girls would get from being around boys (ick!). The term was also later used by the military in World War I when soldiers were ravaged by body lice. But it also comes from the British definition of being infested with lice, as coots (waterfowl) were believed to be covered in them. But they can also be used to hold eggs, or more exciting things like small snacks – hey, I just said what you were thinking.ĭid someone say cooties?! If that doesn’t bring back playground memories of being temporarily teased by your friends, then I don’t know what does! “Cootie” apparently comes from the Malay work “kutu” which means “dog tick”. Yep! When standing on a table, the pockets where your fingers would usually go were made to hold salt. The chatterbox was originally introduced to the Western world in an origami book in 1928. Yet its physical structure has always been the same. From salt cellar to fortune teller, there’s been quite the evolution. The chatterbox has gone through a few changes to get to what it is now. Yet the chatterbox is now played all over the world, with different names in each country, such as the “ flip flapper” in Denmark.
This paper-folding activity is also known as a form of origami, from the Japanese words “oru” (to fold) and “kami” (paper).
All it took was a pencil and a piece of paper folded with the utmost precision, but most likely torn straight from an exercise book.
Childhood wouldn’t have been the same without them. They were the perfect way to pass time at school, before getting into trouble for giggling at the back of class. Ahh, the chatterbox! In an existence where screens are taking over as entertainment, it’s nice to reflect on such a playground favourite.