EileenH 496 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Sorry to start an itchy thread but do any of our more mature members remember head lice? It`s just that I remember that, in the Medders anyway, the lice eggs were called nits and the live lice referred to as 'dicks'. Nobody around here believes me. I`m told that, in Derby, headlice are nits and the eggs are just called eggs! I remember a rhyme we would chant. Made yer look, made yer stare! Made yer cut the barber`s hair. Barbers hair was full of dicks. Made yer eat em, all but six. Is that why we call somebody a dickhead? Or is that something else? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 At the schools I attended (occasionally) the terms 'nits' and 'dicks' were interchangeable for the lice. Many were the traumatising tales of people 'having their heads shaved and painted purple' but I never witnessed any poor soul rendered to that condition. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,878 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 "Nitty Nora" the nit nurse used to come to the school every so often and comb your hair with a smelly solution. We just called them nits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 860 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Can't you remember the 'Nit Nurse' with that bloody steel comb dipped in disinfectant. It was all part of 50's junior schooling, we all had to line up in the corridor and be closely examined every few months, I don't recall even the poorest kids having a problem, the state had a thing about it and we all had to suffer and be tarred with the same brush, it was pathetic and the poor kids were made to be humiliated, being poor didn't mean a lack of respect and hygiene at home, looking back, it was a disgrace. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 yep remember the purple heads....and the school nit nurse But i think 'Dickhead' is refering to something else. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I remember the line-ups in the corridor at Junior School in the 1960s' and also Secondary School in the 1970s'. Like you I don't remember one single incidence of a pupil have head lice. Looking back it was ridiculous. Echo the sentiments about hygiene. I remember very few kids at the schools I went to that didn't come to school in the morning scrubbed to within an inch of their lives. They often went home in a slightly different condition though! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I like other kids got them from time to time. You usually took them home from school! Girls are more likely to get them as they put their heads together. So theres a warning to all the schoolboys of today. Stay away from girls, they are dangerous! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Stay away from girls, they are dangerous! Wrong thread, Mick. http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6658 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Yes we too had the 'Nit Nurse' ,and as for it being humiliating Pete , you said you can't recall even the poorest kids having them , why do you think it was humiliating ?? (If they did have them ,the nurse was always subtle about it , a sly nod to a nearby class teacher and that kid got told about it separately and not embarrassed in front of the class!!) And now ,the bombshell, I went right through school and never knew anybody to have them (As I say it was kept quiet) but in the past week both my kids have come home with 'uninvited' guests!!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 that don't have a nit nurse these days, just one to check for vd Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 860 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 No sublety in our school, the poor kids, who shall remain nameless, were always dragged out first, that was humiliation in our book, for whatever misdemeanours, we were always paraded in front of class, sometimes even the whole school, and made an example of. Looking back, it was the Victorian mind set of the deranged old bag that was rather perversly allowed to run the place, it was a blessing for all of us when she left. I recall a few years ago reading her glowing epitaph in the Evening Post when the wierdo finally snuffed it, I rejoiced and was at last able to convince my parents, that had the woman been a headteacher today she'd be arrested for her behaviour, but at the time, the head was always right and got away with it, you were just a kid, your opinions didn't count. I'd love to know whether some of our old teachers are still alive and what they thought of her, I doubt it was very much, I'm sure they were instrumental in removing the old cow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,675 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 My aunt Lucy was the nit nurse in the 50s/60s, i wouldn't dare get nits, my mother would have killed me, imagine having aunt Lucy tell me mam I'd got visitors in me hair!!! Any way aunt Lucy's son Tony went on to become lead singer with the Nottingham band Pink Harmony Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,795 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I well remember the "Nit Nurse" visiting our school. At the end of the school day lettere were given out in the class to whoever had nits. It wouldn't surprise me if this was done to purposely shame the kids. Yes I got plenty of those letters. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EileenH 496 Posted March 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 I must be immune to them. I worked with often nitty children for years and although I had long hair (in my hippy days)I never got them. I always got checked by Nitty Norah but she never found any. All my grandchildren had them occasionally too but they avoided me. (The nits, not the grandkids) If any nitty heads were found in the class, ALL the children got a letter saying that the parent might like to check their child`s hair as head lice had been found in class. We weren`t allowed to discriminate against the nitty ones by giving them alone a letter. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EileenH 496 Posted March 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 My head`s itching like mad now! Scritch - scritch - scritch - - - . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Tho this is probably a problem common to all schools I wonder they would send out such a letter today? Admitting that pupils at their school had head lice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Has anyone got or had Scabies? lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 No ...why'de you want some ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Once was enough! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Tho this is probably a problem common to all schools I wonder they would send out such a letter today? Admitting that pupils at their school had head lice! Mick there are bleeding billboards up at our kids school !!!!! And a monthly news letter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
piggy and babs 544 Posted May 7, 2010 Report Share Posted May 7, 2010 Mick there are bleeding billboards up at our kids school !!!!! And a monthly news letter As there is in most schools the problem is now as then most parents really good and treat there children as soon as they know they have got them but some are not so good at doing this so other kids keep catching them. the problem now also that some are resistent to the lotions and some parents think that putting this on dose the job and they need do no more hence they get a lot worse before checked again still the best method by far is the old fine comb on wet hair will remove eggs as well as live ones a bit tedious on both child and parent but if done a couple of times a week as a rutyne for all children as part of normal higyne things would soon get in control of this again and no embarressed kids. I know because i was one of those kids who would often get them untill I was about ten and could look after my own hair properly. Having worked with children for a lot of years it was apart of life and i would always comb my hair with fine comb morning and night but still got the odd one or two but never had any eggs as got them out quickly. because of the work i did kids would often ask us to tie there hair up or put it in plaits or do something else with it if we noticed that a child had lice we would have a discreet word with parents when they came to pick up child or we would send out letters to parents by post never with the child this way the child or other children did not know that we had done this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted May 7, 2010 Report Share Posted May 7, 2010 I remember having to have my hair combed over newspaper with salt I think. I'm scratching now thinking about it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Report Share Posted December 22, 2015 We had Nitty Nora The Head Explorer:Peggy mount lookalike, grooming your bonce like a baboon, she'd rake your scalp and shout .."clear!" or" Dirty"! A whimpering kid would return to class plastered in Sulio. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor S 2,003 Posted December 22, 2015 Report Share Posted December 22, 2015 A fine comb dipped in kerosene and raked through the hair got rid of them............No side effects at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted December 22, 2015 Report Share Posted December 22, 2015 But don't smoke while doing it though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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