Gangsta grannies take on hoodies

The Daily Telegraph ^ | July 14, 2005 | David Sapsted

[MadIvan]

Working on the premise that if adults do it, teenagers won't, a group of grandmothers has started wearing hooded tops and baseball caps.

Mari Savage has enlisted friends in the seaside town of Margate, Kent, to adopt the "gangsta granny" look as they queue for their pensions at the post office.

With stores and shopping centres around the country banning the hooded tops and caps in an attempt to reduce anti-social behaviour and crime, Mrs Savage decided to take the matters a step further with a campaign to make the garments "uncool".

"If we wear these things, they won't want to wear them, will they? Once older people like us get hold of them, they lose all their street cred," she said yesterday.

One of the country's first bans on hoods and caps was introduced just round the Kent coast in Folkestone two years ago.

Bluewater, Europe's largest shopping mall, which is also in Kent, introduced a ban in May this year and, a week later, reported a 23 per cent increase in visitor numbers.

Although there have been no signs yet of a mass shedding of "hoodies" in Margate, Mrs Savage, who has six grandchildren, has detected signs that youngsters do not appreciate her adopting their fashion wear.

"This lot of youngsters in the street came through and they elbowed me in the arm," she said. "I thought, 'they're jealous. They don't want me to be wearing this. They just want these clothes for themselves'. "

And since adopting her new look, Mrs Savage has found some unexpected benefits. "Actually, I really like hoodies because they are nice and warm on cold days," she said. "And the baseball caps are gifts from my son."

[MadIvan]

This vaguely reminds me of what the Newcastle public transport system did to stop young hooligans hanging around in their stations: they played loud classical music. Apparently they ran away clutching their ears. Cultural torture of young idiots like the "hoodies" is fun.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[Brad’s Gramma]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!


LOL!!!!

I sure hope it works!! WHOO HOOOOOO!!!!

[Mr. Silverback]

Ah...the wisdom of the elderly is priceless. Bet it works like a charm!

[SevenofNine]

I don't know about you guys but Ivan my mom wear one those backward Raider cap she is from Oakland California LOL!

Don't ask I got screwy family LOL!

[flashbunny]

They did almost the same thing on an episode of southpark.

The japanese introduced a new pokemon type game (chimpokoomon), which was actually an attempt at mind control to make the children of america go to war and attack their own country.

The parents were finally able to thwart the plan by learning all the chimpokoomon terms and acting like they were really into it, too. Once the kids thought their parents thought it was cool, they wanted nothing to do with it.

[Brad’s Gramma]

I have GOT to remember all of this!!!!!

Can you imagine, poor Brad...trottin' off to school next year & TRYING to get into something "cool" and Gramma thinks so too?

HAHAHHAHAHAHAAAAAA


He doesn't stand a chance....

[flashbunny]

heck, if you really want get him to stop something, show up when he's hanging out with friends and participate in the same activity he's trying to stop.

For example, If you want brad to stop hanging out at the park with some kids you don't approve of, don't nag him in order to get him to stop. Instead, let him go and join him a little later like you just want to hang out with them all. You probably wouldn't have to do it more than once or twice to break him of the habbit.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Ya GOTTA remind me! That's a HOOT!!! This will start within a year or so, if it does...

Right now, he's living a sheltered life (of sorts).

[Disambiguator]

Here's the inevitable Python tie-in:

[Disambiguator]

Here's a larger version:

[Quinotto]

Mrs. Savage, whatever else you chose to wear to get teens to change their appearance, I beg of you NO droopy drawers...I don't think I am ready for wrinkly old butts hanging out of Depends.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[Majic]

"Once older people like us get hold of them, they lose all their street cred,"

Gotta love it.

Another technique that works well is playing classical music in public places to keep the hooligans away.

It usually doesn't take much to outsmart them.

[olde north church]

a classic!

[Tony in Hawaii]

I don't understand why "gangstas" wear those damned things anyway. It makes it too easy for someone to sneak up on you from behind.

[HereInTheHeartland]

They can work on the girls next by wearing pants down to their pelvis.

[GVnana]

The cute wisdom of little old ladies...I had an elderly neighbor once. She had an apple tree whose branches leaned over a sidewalk and the boys would come with sticks and bat down the apples.

One day she preempted a strike by going out and meeting with a couple of the boys. She told them that some boys had been knocking down her apples. She offered them each a quarter if they saw this and came and told her about it.

Never happened again.

[Mi-kha-el]

Now the grannies should start doing drugs, vandalizw property and knock like rabits. Mission accomplished. But then the law enforcement will have to deal with a bunch of wild and out-of-contril grannies. Then they are in trouble.