h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You also cant pass down copies of the Captain Hurricane" comic strip, where all he ever did was get into a "Roaring Fury" and beat the bejesus out of the entire Third Reich single handed. It was was from this strip that I learnt that if you whacked a German soldier round the head with the butt of your rifle, they went boss eyed and said "Ggnungungguunn" while passing out. Not PC by a long way, but handy to know if the Third Reich ever come back.

Two new post - the first, the concept of ultra violent toy guns, sadly is still with us - the second, comic book heroes killing our EU partners wholesale is one which I think counts, but on a broader area of "The War"

When I grew up, "The War" simply meant the 39-45 bash - now what would it mean to a child? Iraq? Afganistan?

U91473

Playing with toy guns - "Ultra Violent" or not - will always be with us - it is just today that they are made in dayglo pink with bright red muzzles.
My original comment merely meant to illustrate the epoch of Kids toy weaponry that was reached in 1964 - and kids today will not have that fun ever again becuase it isnt "PC"
My 5 year old daughter goes out back with friends and cheerfully "Annihilates" anything that moves with a Johnny Seven I refurbished for her. I do think it is utterly rediculous to try and stop kids playing in this manner

My brother banned his daughters from owning toy guns, so one of his daughters became obsessed with swords.

A friend of ours used to be in the TA. The wife of a friend of his decided she wanted her son to have a non-violent upbringing, despite the fact her husband was in the TA. So she banned toy weapons from the house. One day, to her horror, their son came in brandishing a coat-hanger and going 'Bang! Bang!'

It may be easier with girls, but I'm pretty sure most boys will find a way to 'pretend' a weapon if they are forbidden to have a toy one.

I think there's a difference between a 'pretend' gun and a toy gun that looks a lot like a real one. In the first case, the child knows it's not really a weapon.

In the second case, how will the child know the difference between a real-looking toy gun and a real gun? Think of the many cases where little kids have accidentally got their hands on and shot someone with a real gun because of parents keeping loaded guns in non-locked drawers etc.

I live in the UK. That kind of thing shouldn't happen over here. I won't say it doesn't, 'cos there are people who have guns and shouldn't. There's no guarantee they'll look after their gun in a responsible way.

Any parent who leaves a loaded gun lying around is grossly irresponsible, IMO.

When I was a kid, there were plenty of toy guns to be had and we knew they were only toys. They were things like Wild West-style revolvers or rifles, and the occasional World War II gun. I think one the problems these days is the availability of realistic 'replicas' of modern guns. Those are the toys I'd keep away from children.

OK, here's one that will mean not much to the current generation.

Look at your DVD or you MP3 player. Look at the buttons. For starters the Play, back and forwards buttons are always the same sort of arrows - but why are they like that? Older people will remember reel to reel, cassttes and VHS where tape went from one spool on the left to one on the right. But will these symbols make sense to the new generation.

Plus, of course we still say "rewind" for the backwards function, a meaningless term in tapeless players.

U91473

I can never get through to people who *are* old enough that those symbols are the same as those on cassette plates, let alone the youngsters