Silence (game)

Silence is a motionless children's game in which the speaker first loses; genre of children's amusing folklore . The number of participants is not limited. ^[one]

As noted by M. S. Starchenko, "The whole interest of this game is expressed by the word and in the word, the action is practically absent." A test of silence is preceded by a text calling for it containing “vivid, imaginative pictures,” usually of a humorous content. Sample text:

The cat is dead The tail has peeled off Who will say He will eat. Forty Barns Dry cockroaches, Forty Pens Salt frogs Forty buckets Green snot. The silence began. Chock, chock - Doors on the hook. [one]

Texts often contain rude moments that in adults cause disgust and disgust, and in children - fun. Example:

There was a soldier from battle He carried a bottle of pus. Who will pickle He will drink. [one]

Text length from 2 lines to more than 11, usually 4-6. The rhyme is usually paired, which makes it easier to remember and replace the text if you forget the original. The rhythm is similar to the rhythm of the reader (like some texts), the words are pronounced by the recitative . The texts usually contain the beginning - the beginning of the actual game text (the first line in the following example), the conditions of the game (second and third lines) and the line after which there should be silence (fourth line):

Chock Chock Teeth on the hook, A language on the shelf. Silence. [one]

The game has three stages: pronouncing the text, silence with attempts by the presenter or players using gestures and facial expressions to amuse the participants ( showing the language works best) and, finally, general laughter. If silence is prolonged, then the game loses its meaning. The one who breaks the silence often gets punishment, for example, crowing, barking, running, telling a joke, falling out in the snow, getting a click in the forehead. According to the observation of G. S. Vinogradov , in this game “the prelude grows so much that it obscures the <...> game itself, transferring only the end of it, the denouement, into action”. ^[one]

The texts of the silent women are relatively stable, with some changes passing from one children's generation to another. Traditional texts exist among children of 4–9 years old; in 10–13-year-olds they are often simplified to simple narrative sentences, for example, “Whoever says a word is a bald cow”. In modern silence, the influence of literary texts is noticeable, up to the borrowing of whole passages. According to the Omsk region , the most popular text is the following (50 options out of 128 tests):

Tatars rode The cat is lost. The cat is dead The tail has peeled off Who will say He will eat. [one]

In addition to entertaining, silence performs an educational function. According to M. S. Starchenko, “the volitional qualities of the child develop in the game, the ability to monitor one’s behavior, to control one’s feelings and emotions is developed”. Adults often resort to silence in order to establish order in the children's team. Relevant example text:

In kindergarten, we have a quiet hour . That means we need ti-shi-na. We said, “Chok-chok-chok, Sleep, stubborn tongue, " Because she came to us Silence. [one]