Remember Mad Libs growing up? I certainly do. It was one of the fun things to do with your friends or family when you were taking a long trip in the car, on a plane, or were stuck inside when you were home sick. For those of you who don’t remember the game, it is a word game where one person prompts the other for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story. The words usually end up making the story very funny when reading it back as the words don’t usually make sense in the context of the story – hence, it being rather humorous, especially to a group of 12 year olds.
Watching the Today Show this morning, I learned a little bit of history of how Mad Libs came about. Truthfully, I had no idea they were around for 50 years. Mad Libs was invented in 1953 by Leonard Stern and Roger Price, who published the first Mad Libs book themselves in 1958. The creation of Mad Libs was directly linked to the creator’s inability to spell “hyperbole” in a 7th grade spelling bee. Humiliated and embarrassed beyond words, he ran home to take refuge in the family dictionary, determined to learn the correct spelling and exact meaning of as many words as humanly possible. The dictionary became his constant companion….and from there the idea just rolled.
Click here for more info on the history of Mad Libs. I thought it was a great story and interesting to learn of its origin. I have many childhood memories playing this game as well as many others and all the fun we had. A walk down memory lane every now and again is great for the soul…..
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