I’m visiting extended family for the first time in a long time, and one of my nieces has reached the impressionable age where she keeps mimicking things that she sees me do. what’s a really funny but fairly harmless thing I should teach her to do?

  • SanctusEnglish
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    It’d be hilarious if you taught her how to code Fortran.

  • kromemEnglish
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    On a vacation when I was a teenager I taught my younger sibling the SYN/ACK game.

    They still remember the TCP stack handshake protocol including resets and acks years later.

  • Iamsqueegee
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    My niece and nephew loved the “this guy” gag. What’s got two thumbs and thinks you’re the coolest? THIS GUY! and point to yourself with your thumbs.

  • UnderpantsWeevilEnglish
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    Teach her to order something off a foreign-language menu, invite the family out to dinner, and see if she can place her order fluently.

    Doing the “Five year old white girl shocks waitress by ordering Orange Chicken in perfect Mandarian” bit IRL would be pretty funny and adorable.

  • knightly the Sneptaur
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    Lockpicking

    Using Linux

    Media piracy

    Feeding the homeless

    Wheatpasting / graffiti

    Political theory

    Shoplifting from corporate chains

    First Aid

    Legal observation

    Black bloc tactics

    Guerilla gardening

    Spotting plainclothes cops / informants

    Dialectical Materialism

    • OsaErisXero
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      Idk about some of these given the age bracket, but Spot the Fed is fun for the whole family.

    • Contramuffin
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      Seconding lockpocking. Easy to learn, tactile feedback (very kid friendly!), can absolutely annoy parents. But be careful to teach children not to do anything that’ll seriously get them into trouble

  • TootSweetEnglish
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    • Beatboxing. “Boots and cats and boots and cats”-style.
    • The pulling your thumb off trick.
    • The Macarena.
    • “The Game”. (“You just lost The Game.)
    • Chopsticks on the piano/keyboard/toy xylophone/etc.
    • “The Name Game.
    • IninewCrowEnglish
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      Then once they got it just right, let them sing it all week.

      Once the week goes by teach them 99 bottles of pop on the wall

  • kitnaht
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    A buddy of mine taught his 5 yr old daughter to tell people “One time, at band campI stuck a flute in my *long pause* “nose”.

    And he gets joy remembering all of the people go wide-eyed waiting for that next word out of her mouth.

    • ddhEnglish
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      Just hope he’s prepared for when she finds out the quote’s origin

  • sundrayEnglish
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    “Guess what?

    “What?

    CHICKEN BUTT!

    • Zoop
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      I love this type of thing! There’s also:

      “Guess why?/“Chicken thigh!

      “Guess who?/“Chicken poo!

      As a kid I also came up with “Guess when?/“Chicken shin! “Guess where?/“Chicken hair! and “Guess how?/“Chicken COW!! but those may not be quite as good, hahaha.

    • hitmyspot
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      Guess what.

      What?

      Youre a snot and I’m not.

  • EtherWhack
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    Teach her how she can insert “apparently” into every statement.

    • BananaPealEnglish
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      My 8 year old starts almost every sentence with “By the way.

  • InputZero
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    If she’s the right age, Teach her The Game. It’s a brain virus game.

    Rule number 1 of The Game, you can not think about The Game. When you think about The Game you lose.

    Rule number 2, when you think of The Game you have to say that you’ve lost The Game. Ideally loudly and publicly.

    Rule number 3, after losing the game you get 30 minutes grace period to stop thinking about it before The Game starts again.

    Rule number 4, once you have learned about the game you may either play the game or cheat.

  • UpperBroccoli
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    I taught my niece to say “I can’t work like this!. That was fun!

      • MelodiousFunk
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        Seconding hand farts. I’ve never seen anyone wash their hands after doing armpit farts.

      • ColeSloth
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        Being too hot just makes a better bravado.