Ding Dong Ditch

[lisaviolet]

I learn something new every day on the DIS.

I learned that some people in the UK call it Knock Knock Ginger & Knock Down Ginger.

I always thought it was Nicky Nicky Nine Door, like there was a bad-*** Nicky. Maybe it is, discrepancies abound.

And apparently in my Granny's hometown it is called 'Belfast'.

---------------

From Reddit -

 

[snowwite]

I am surprised kids still do this, as others have said, since cameras are so common these days.

Our neighborhood does the "Boo" thing at Halloween where you anonymously leave a bag of candy for someone on their doorstep by ringing the doorbell and running. Then that person makes a treat bag and "Boo's" someone else by leaving treats on their doorstep, ringing the bell, and running away before they answer. With all the doorbell cam's people now dress up in masks and hoods to hide their identity. LOL. Its fun.

That's not the same as a good old fashioned ding dong ditch though. Yes, I would be very annoyed if it happened at that hour. If they did it before 9:00 I would be irritated, but would get over it. Are you sure it was kids? that seems really late for kids to be out. Do you have a doorbell camera? If so, are they hiding their faces. If not, somebody's camera may have picked them up

The Boo is cute. What went around for a while (I personally think it’s hilarious) was people getting flocked!

 

[lisaviolet]

Never heard of that in my life!

It is just like Canadian Thanksgiving, it doesn't really exist.
Insert laugh & smile.

 

[snowwite]

I don’t particularly care if it’s during the day but would if it was the middle of the night. I also don’t answer my door unless I know someone is coming.

This reminded me that a few years ago on a Saturday afternoon, I heard my doorbell ring and since I was waiting for a delivery I figured that’s what it was. I opened the door and found two preteens laughing hysterically and saying “Ha! You’ve been ding dong ditched!!” I informed them they forgot the ditching part and shut the door.

Night time would scare me that someone died. Day time I wouldn’t care and we also have a ring camera.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

It's pretty uncommon here. We had some kids who were doing it a few years ago, but between the number of cameras and gun owners, most kids are afraid of getting caught or shot.

 

[snowwite]

It is just like Canadian Thanksgiving, it doesn't really exist.
Insert laugh & smile.

 

[tony67]

In the middle of the night? Hell no. If my doorbell rings at 2 am I think someone is dead or trying to rob my house.

During the day/evening? I never answer my door unless it's someone I'm expecting, and I'd just use Ring to ask what they want.

Also I would NEVER let my kid do that because there are lots of people with guns who don't think it's just a fun prank.

Yeah for the TikTok stupidity - its all about doing in in the dead of night - they may be more to it than that but I'm not all that interested in it.

To your second point - yeah people have been shot and killed. In one case I guess a guy chased them down and drove their car off the road killing all three - so an example of you don't need a gun to kill someone in the moment of rage

 

[fla4fun]

I don’t know if I would hear them at night. Our doorbell just does a “ding” instead of a “ding-dong”, so if I am on the lower level of the house, especially in the basement storage room, I sometimes don’t hear it unless someone rings it multiple times. At night, the neighbors behind us leave their dogs out and they bark occasionally, so I use a white noise machine to cover the barking and it would cover a doorbell/knocking as well.

If it was an every night or every weekend repetitive thing, I would be more likely to report it than if it was an occasional thing. We don’t have a lot of kids in our neighborhood right now, and so far pranks like this have not been an issue. We do have a neighborhood website where videos could be posted if people wanted to, so perhaps that also works as a deterrent.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Their parents also said the videos were edited to make it look like their children were the culprits. They tried to press charges on the group of homeowners who caught their children and followed them until police arrived.

This is a big part of the problem sometimes - parents who refuse to believe their kids could possibly be anything other than little angels. No personal (or family) responsibility.

There is no reason for kids to be out at 2am off their property unsupervised.

 

[tony67]

This is a big part of the problem sometimes - parents who refuse to believe their kids could possibly be anything other than little angels. No personal (or family) responsibility.

There is no reason for kids to be out at 2am off their property unsupervised.

Agree 100% - of course it could be college kids walking home from the bar or a party and just being goofy.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Some neighborhood kids ages about 8 and 10 were spending the night with gma, sneaked out, and went to a convenience store around 2 a.m. An employee called the police. The kids were cited for curfew violation and the parents and kids had to appear in court. Charges were dismissed but gma (and the parents) were more careful after that.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I would think in this day and age of Ring cameras being so prevalent, that this wouldn't be as much of an issue anymore.

I think that there are soooo many ring cameras that it kind of dilutes their effectiveness in some ways. At least it didn't deter the teenager who ran off with a huge bowl of candy that I put out on my porch for halloween. I'd handed out candy to the smaller kids that come around earlier and then left the bowl out with a "take 3 pieces" sign on it. Nope...teen, took it all. I could have put the ring footage on our ring neighborhood list, but I couldn't be bothered. It wasn't an expensive bowl or anything.

At the same time, next year...I'll hand out candy to the "littles" until it gets dark and that'll be that. So, I guess I'm in the middle of "kids will be kids'.....and....."no more candy for you....you thieving teens!" .

 

[Lumpy1106]

Not "Ding Dong Ditch", but this gave DW and I a good laugh this AM;
We were putting up Christmas lights last night and had a couple of strings that were partially out. I got on Amazon and ordered a little tool that helps you detect bad bulbs and fix your strings of Christmas lights. We went to bed and didn't think much of it - until the Amazon guy rang our doorbell at 5a this morning. At first it was annoying, but then we realized the poor delivery guy was delivering the thing to us so early and we felt pretty bad about it. I mean, SUPER impressive that we got it so fast, but to be honest, it could have waited until at least the sun came up.