Wicked Good Guides / Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

Ghouls

A game of tag. At the beginning of the game, you set the ghouls (i.e. "The big rawk by the cahport is gools"). Then, if someone is chasing you, and you jump on or are touching the rock, no one can touch you or catch you.
John Lawler and Josh Wolk

Comments

This is a great example of a term you used as a kid and in retrospect had no frickin clue what you meant. I'm learning RIGHT NOW, at 29, that "Gools" is "Ghouls." Hilarious.

I vaguely remember thinking (at like 9 yrs. old) it was a reference to gold, or maybe even "Gooldens," you know, the muhstid foa ya dawg at the Sawx game.

Brian on March 22, 2004 03:20 PM.

I thought it meant "goals" only said all retahded. It's good to finally know the actual word.

Tara on July 21, 2004 03:15 AM.

In Sharon, we would have ghouls when playing hidenseek, and the object of the game was to get to ghouls and yell out "my ghouls 1-2-3" before the person who was "it" saw you and got back and called YOUR ghouls (Janie's ghouls 1-2-3). If they got your ghouls, you were it next time....

Jane on October 11, 2004 12:18 PM.

aight maybe imma lil young for this but when we played hide-n seek we had "goals" or "home",,iont have a clue wtf a "ghouls" is

labreck on October 29, 2004 06:25 PM.

I agree with Jane, "my ghouls 1-2-3"

graeme on November 13, 2004 05:14 PM.

labreck is missing out...im 18 and i've only heard it being called ghouls...except i always imagined it being spelled gools...

Scott on January 9, 2005 11:13 PM.

Thanks for ending a family debate. My kids keep calling the "safe zone" in tag "GLUE" or "GOO", my husband insisted that it should really be "GHOULS". I must have led a sheltered life -- I hadn't heard of any of it.

mom on July 12, 2005 09:45 PM.

We said "My gools 1-2-3." Why does anyone think it's spelled "ghouls"? "Ghouls" have nothing to do with "gools" as far as I know.

Ellen on September 7, 2005 03:26 PM.

dude, i'm wicked excited that otha people said gools too. i said it growin up, but as soon as i got to elementary school, everyone looked at me wicked weird and asked what in the world was i talkin about

Rachel on October 23, 2005 01:30 AM.

Several of you are correct. It's definitely "gools" and absolutely called by "My gools 1-2-3". We Boston kids know this is true, unless you are retahded.

Kate on February 22, 2006 05:27 PM.

lol. never EVER called it that here in CT...always called it 'base'

Grant on March 2, 2006 10:14 AM.

What about "Ollie Ollie in free ? Isn't that said too?

EA on March 4, 2006 03:01 PM.

We used it the same as Jane says in Worc. County (Northborough).
"ollie-ollie-in-come-free" was the other end...

Steve on March 31, 2006 04:44 PM.

Just goes to show that you can find ANYTHING on the web. I am 37 and grew up in Marlboro. We did that gools thing
back in the 70s! Recently I was second guessing my memory....was it gools or goals or goal? So I GOOgLed "gools" and found this forum! Wicked cool!

Omar on July 9, 2006 08:41 PM.

I always assumed it had something to do with 'gaols' (British for jail). All the kids start in ghouls except for the one who is It. Once you're off ghouls, you get chased, like escaping from jail. If you're caught off ghouls, you're It.

That's how I thought of it anyway.

stummo on December 28, 2006 06:30 PM.

In central Mass growing up, we said "ghouls/gools". I never even knew people said "goals" until I went to college. How sad is that?

JZ on February 16, 2007 10:44 PM.

WOW! Yes in Marshfeild we played Hide and Seek and when you made it home you yelled out My Gouls 1-2-3!!!

I think that term was pretty much just on the south shore or maybe the general Boston area. It would be fascinating to know if kids today still say that.

By the way, I am a former Marshfield child of the 1970's now living in Flordia.

BP

Bob on February 24, 2007 08:34 PM.

My friend was explaining the game of tag to her 5 year old and she called "home base" Ghouls/Gools. I thought she was crazy...I never used that one in Wisconsin. Also the Ollie Ollie, thing was Ollie Ollie Ach Ten Free in the midwest...German sort of I guess.

JJ on April 30, 2007 08:21 PM.

In J.P. we used to sat "My goose 1-2-3."

Chris on May 7, 2007 02:07 AM.

It has to gool, as in home base, because we'd get mad at the kids who were afraid to leave the base and call them gool-stickahs. Then they'd have to save face and get out on the playground, and get tagged.

mm on July 25, 2007 11:55 PM.

I AM OVER 55. WHEN WE WERE KIDS AND YOU WANTED SOMEONE TO COME OUT OF HIDING OR BACK TO BASE ETC. Y0U YELLED "OLLIE. OLLIE ONE TWO THREE". NO ONE I KNOW REMEMBERS IT AT ALL.

DS on August 14, 2007 02:36 PM.

(originally from Ahlington)
I think its 'gools'; be willing to bet you it is a Boston kid way of saying an (old) word for jail....GAOL.

which is what we would use it as,in the game, playing.....RELIEVIO!

James Rodrigues on September 20, 2007 11:34 AM.

It's "All ye all ye oxen free," and "gules." I'm 42, and originally from Fitchburg.

Pleased to help.

Bileman on November 18, 2007 03:08 PM.

I believe it was origanally All in, all in, all in free. and goal. In West Rox it was Ollie, ollie oxen tree and gools, what the hell, we were kids.

Stephen F. Daly on January 10, 2008 09:05 PM.

In 1960's Br'ricka (Billerica) it was pronounced "gooze", as in "my gooze 1-2-3" and yah, gooze-stickas were wicked obnoxious. If everyone was bein' a gooze-sticka, the kid who was It said "1-2-3, get off my fahthiz apple tree!" and if ya didn't you were It.

(tried posting twice and got 404; if it's posting all these times, it's not on purpose, honest)

Marinda on February 27, 2008 10:54 PM.

In Dallas, Tx, we just said "base". But I have always heard the phrase "Ollie, Ollie, ach ten free" (or what it sounds like) just like the comment that was made on April 30, 2007 above. Anyone else heard this one?

Barbara on April 9, 2008 10:13 PM.

Post a comment

NOTE: Due to those durn spammy spammers, your comment won't show up right away - an actual human-type person has to review it first. Sorry!