tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7818385.post750342546530843055..comments2023-07-05T05:14:51.110-07:00Comments on The King's English: Newsflash: It's O.K. to Take Candy from StrangersUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7818385.post-58820369940223663352007-10-20T09:13:00.000-07:002007-10-20T09:13:00.000-07:00Usha - Sounds to me like you've got a Halloween es...Usha - Sounds to me like you've got a Halloween essay in you ... I know what you mean about its discomfort and gimcrack thrills - it seems to me to have only gotten worse in that regard. At least my costumes were generally home-made (though I was sometimes ashamed of this at the time). But there was one thing I liked about Halloween, once I got to, oh, age 10 or so: we were allowed to run around with our friends after dark, without adult supervision. And the adults, most of them, conspired in this: the front doors of house after house would open to our knock, spilling warm light onto the front step, and after a perfunctory request, they'd give us something I was usually forbidden: candy.StillBenjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06671112691193546536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7818385.post-1359934777584559082007-10-19T23:28:00.000-07:002007-10-19T23:28:00.000-07:00Very interesting. I was a kid at the time when the...Very interesting. I was a kid at the time when these scares were picking up steam (along with stories of devil worshipping cow-tippers). I never quite believed any of it but, frankly, I was glad for the reprieve from Halloween that it facilitated in my little hometown. No more dressing up in ill-fitting costumes of characters I could not relate to; no more traipsing about in total darkness, on icy streets; no more freezing, suffering, and humilliation for cheap candy.<BR/><BR/>But I still do appreciate your point about Americans and fear.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com