tickler's "handshake"

[cincinnatusc]

you know, i heard about something the other day. i'm sure most of you are familiar with the little sign in the christian religion that looks like a fish, it's kind of two arcs on top of each other that intersect on one side to form a "tail". (i don't know the name, hopefully someone knows what i'm talking about more than i do and can explain what i'm talking about). anyhow, i read that the origin of the symbol had something to do with early christians being able to identify themselves to each other secretly. one would draw one of the arcs in the dust with his foot, and if the other person was a christian, he would draw the other, completing the symbol. if he wasn't, hopefully the other person wouldn't notice/know what it was, and the first person would get away undetected.
anyhow, i got to thinking, how about a secret handshake or something to identify tickler's to each other? something where we could make it known that we were "in" so to speak, without raising suspicions of those who aren't. sound like a good idea? any suggestions? i just think it would be really neat to run into someone that i had no idea shared our fetish, and find out they too were a 'tickler/lee'. well, i await replies.

Cincinnatus

 

[pope11]

Why Secret?

Why secret. Don't be ashamed of your love of tickling. Be up front about it with family, friends, neighbors and strangers as well. Being open about it and having self esteem will gain you much support for being honest about your feelings, desires and hell, you might even get lucky.😕

 

[Carthoris]

I don't know how many people have read Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian series but there is something similar to this idea of a secret handshake. In one of the novels, I think the main character has now shifted to Carthoris, he gets a special ring at some point during the story. There are only 3 of the rings and are given by one person on the whole planet. But anyway, the idea behind these rings is to identify yourself to the two others who own a ring. What happens is that the rings vibrate or make your finger tingle or something to let you know that one of the other rings is right near you. A bunch of those rings would come in handy for your idea cincinnatusc. But we may come to find out there are too many of us and your finger my fall off due to all the tingling. 😀

 

[DallasFootTickler]

"...One ring to tickle them..."

 

[kyle]

Re: to pope

Pope, I don't agree with you at all there. Why should we tell people about our fetish? What are the benefits? I can only see telling your family and friends this as being a negative thing. Maybe telling your best friend would ok but that's it. How is telling your mother that you like to tickle girls b/c it turns you on a good thing? No no no.. Same thing with gays.. I don't want to know what turns them on.

 

[cincinnatusc]

i understand what is meant by not trying to 'hide' your fetish. that wasn't my intention. i was thinking that the secret handshake/ signal would serve as a way to identify you to someone you didn't really know. kind of like the simpsons episode where homer joins the stone cutters. he has a plumber saying that it's going to take a week or something to get a part to fix a leak, homer says, "oh yeah, well what if i was to shake your hand this way!" they do the stone cutter secret handshake and the plumber says, "oh, i didn't know you were a member!" he then fixes the leak immediately.
i was thinking that the handshake would serve in this context..... i hoped that if we did this little handshake/code to everyone we met, we may some day run into someone that we otherwise never would've known shared our interest. anyhow, i personally thought it was a great idea (all my ideas are approved beforehand as great by me 😀 ) but if no one else thinks so, it's no big deal...

later,

cincinnatus

 

[Strelnikov]

I've been attending Science Fiction Conventions for 25 years. Lately, I've been using my handle as a badge name. Other SF Con attendees, do the same - I'll look for you.

Strelnikov

 

[pope11]

Benefits

The benefits are obvious. You are being honest with yourself. You're not hiding your "fetish" in the closet. You are being open and true to one's self. Let's face it, I'll wager more than 99% of the population have tickled someone or were tickled themselves atleast Once in their life. So I don't see a need for secret handshakes. You have ten people in a room; ask each one, "have you ever tickled anyone?". Hands down, probally all or most will reply in the affirmative. Tickling is not a taboo subject, or something "dirty" you have to hide. We all do it. Husband and wives do it. Mothers tickle babies; Girlfriends tickle boyfriends; It's going on all around you. Personally, I don't agree it's a fetish. More closely associated with human nature. I might add, "Positive" human nature.

 

[Shadow1016]

My thoughts...

Personally, I think that anything along this line, should be more of a verbal exchange. Like a question of some kind that would have certain unique answer. Then the person who asked the question would give some unique response to the answer still relating to the topic so that both the person who asks the question and the person answering the question could be sure about the other person. Then maybe you could do some other kind of check after that. Obviously though, some people might just answer or respond in this way just because it's how they normally think, but it's one of those chances you could take. I mean, no offense to your thoughts, not many people do special handshakes. So it may seem a little strange. But anyways...It was just a thought.

 

[feetclimax]

I think its a good idea

Hi cinc, Iv also seen that episode of the simpsons and honestly think that is quite a good idea to make up a hand shake.

However I have to disagree with pope because everyone is different in some way which is why some people prefer not to be so open for example, you can get people that are mature and willing to listen and understand fetishes such as these and then you have people who would think its something weird and probably laugh at you.

In admitting to your fetish in public you are taking a 50/50 chance, some people like to take that chance and others dont, this is also to do with ones charater and probably based on passed experiences with been open minded.

Fair enough if you know for a fact that the people you confront will understand without thinking your some sort of freak well then your one of the lucky ones, however the rest of the tickle comunity doesnt want to take such a risk because they wont be able to handle the humiliation and laughter at your fetish. so this is the reason why many prefer to keep their mouths shut, I should know becuase I am one of those people and as a matter of fact a few days back two of my friends were talking about fetishes and started to make fun of the foot fetishes as if to say that people were pathetic if they had such fetishes.

I for one am not ashamed of my fetish but I wouldnt want to be judged or seen in a negative way by telling people about it who may not understand.

Back onto the subject though I think a secret hand shake would bring ticklers more closer and could be a new way to find fellow ticklers especially for people who dont have the internet and think that there the only ones.

 

[TicklingDuo]

the little sign in the christian religion that looks like a fish, it's kind of two arcs on top of each other that intersect on one side to form a "tail". (i don't know the name, hopefully someone knows what i'm talking about more than i do and can explain what i'm talking about). Cincinnatus

AFA explaining the symbol, it comes from the fact that many of the early disciples were fishermen...St. Peter himslf being refered to in public as the big fisherman. Drawing the fish in the sand (or cutting it into a loaf of bread) was a way to identify themselves to one another without the Romans being able to identify and slaughter them.) To this day, popes are often refered to as walking in the "shoes of the fisherman".

Now that the Church History lesson is over... 😉

I can see having a handshake (much like a club handshake) simply for fun. But, I agree both that we shouldn't have to be secret or go sneaking around and that we don't necessarily want to let just anyone know...even if they ARE part of the tickling community. I've come across some people who turned out to be real jerks...though most have been great people. Doing a handshake with the general public kind of feels to me like wearing a sign saying "I love to tickle. Do you?"

Just my two cents.

Ann