I'm the yo-yo man, always up and down...
June 6, 2006 10:57 AM Subscribe
It's National Yo-Yo Day!
Forget about all this satanic stuff, June 6th every year is National Yo-Yo Day (in the US) when children of all ages pull out their yo-yos and find internal happiness in the state of yo. The yearly day of recognition celebrates the birthday of of Donald F. Duncan Sr, the man who made the yo-yo popular in the US (You do know your yo-yo history don't you?). Of course, that isn't all that Duncan did in his life. He also founded the Good Humor ice cream company, invented the parking meter and made the concept of the premium incentive a popular marketing tool on top of founding the Duncan Yo-Yo Company.
On National Yo-Yo Day yoers celebrate their skill toy of choice, cheap or expensive, simple or complex, by doing tricks ranging from the easy to learn to the completely mind boggling.
Forget about all this satanic stuff, June 6th every year is National Yo-Yo Day (in the US) when children of all ages pull out their yo-yos and find internal happiness in the state of yo. The yearly day of recognition celebrates the birthday of of Donald F. Duncan Sr, the man who made the yo-yo popular in the US (You do know your yo-yo history don't you?). Of course, that isn't all that Duncan did in his life. He also founded the Good Humor ice cream company, invented the parking meter and made the concept of the premium incentive a popular marketing tool on top of founding the Duncan Yo-Yo Company.
On National Yo-Yo Day yoers celebrate their skill toy of choice, cheap or expensive, simple or complex, by doing tricks ranging from the easy to learn to the completely mind boggling.
Since I do not have a yo-yo at hand (for shame!) I will tie a small piece of string around my middle finger too tight and wait a few seconds for my finger to redden in honor of this day.
posted by NationalKato at 11:00 AM on June 6, 2006
posted by NationalKato at 11:00 AM on June 6, 2006
Walk the dog for satan! That "mind boggling" link is... well, mind boggling.
posted by brundlefly at 11:12 AM on June 6, 2006
posted by brundlefly at 11:12 AM on June 6, 2006
Grrr....I remember trying to use a yoyo once or twice as a kid. Couldn't get more than one 'yo', if you will.
posted by Radio7 at 11:12 AM on June 6, 2006
posted by Radio7 at 11:12 AM on June 6, 2006
He invented the parking meter? How is he not the anti-christ?
Got a yo-yo right here on my desk. It’s a butterfly though.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:22 AM on June 6, 2006
Got a yo-yo right here on my desk. It’s a butterfly though.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:22 AM on June 6, 2006
The skilltoys.com site has awful copy editing. Even I am better at it than whomever did that site, and that's saying something.
Outside of that, YAY yoyos!
posted by edgeways at 11:36 AM on June 6, 2006
Outside of that, YAY yoyos!
posted by edgeways at 11:36 AM on June 6, 2006
So, I guess a bunch of Yo-Yo guys and gals need to battle it out with Slayer to determine whose day it really is?
posted by WinnipegDragon at 11:58 AM on June 6, 2006
posted by WinnipegDragon at 11:58 AM on June 6, 2006
This makes me nostalgic for my Tom Kuhn yo-yos. They were one of the best Xmas presents ever.
posted by pombe at 1:05 PM on June 6, 2006
posted by pombe at 1:05 PM on June 6, 2006
Earlier yo-yo post with some good technical yoyo discussion. Yo-yo trickery > apocalypse.
posted by kosem at 1:36 PM on June 6, 2006
posted by kosem at 1:36 PM on June 6, 2006
pombe: God Save Tom Kuhn!
Yomega, and many others have taken off in his stead, but he was the one that brought the yoyo into its modern (and bad ass) form! Hurrah! My first was a no jive, then a mandala, then the Silver Bullet.
I've got my anodized pink aluminum Zombie on my desk. . .
I better start spinnin'
posted by blackfly at 2:38 PM on June 6, 2006
Yomega, and many others have taken off in his stead, but he was the one that brought the yoyo into its modern (and bad ass) form! Hurrah! My first was a no jive, then a mandala, then the Silver Bullet.
I've got my anodized pink aluminum Zombie on my desk. . .
I better start spinnin'
posted by blackfly at 2:38 PM on June 6, 2006
Don't forget that Duncan was also a brutal, brutal businessman. He trademarked Yo-yo and used strong handed techniques to push product. For example, he would send salesmen to toystores to buy a competitor's product and demand a receipt. In that day, the register receipt would not have the product name on it, so the salesman would complain saying, "this doesn't say what I bought" and the poor clerk would inevitably write down "yo-yo". The salesman would then demand the manager, saying that the clerk just comitted fraud, since he did not buy a yo-yo. Then came the choice: prosecution for fraud, or the store could exclusively carry Duncan Yo-yo's.
They also routinely ran demonstrations and contests. No child was allowed to participate unless they had a Duncan Yo-yo, usually turning into several on the spot sales.
Due to the wild success, Yo-yo was eventually deemed to be a generic and no longer a trademarked name. By that time, Duncan had sold enough Yo-yo's so that every resident of the US could own three.
posted by plinth at 6:19 PM on June 6, 2006
They also routinely ran demonstrations and contests. No child was allowed to participate unless they had a Duncan Yo-yo, usually turning into several on the spot sales.
Due to the wild success, Yo-yo was eventually deemed to be a generic and no longer a trademarked name. By that time, Duncan had sold enough Yo-yo's so that every resident of the US could own three.
posted by plinth at 6:19 PM on June 6, 2006
In my opinion, any post that is 2 paragraphs is great.
posted by sluglicker at 7:29 PM on June 6, 2006
posted by sluglicker at 7:29 PM on June 6, 2006
Weird! There's a group of us at work (four of us) who, as a whole, have purchased and leave our 16 yo-yos* lying around for anyone's enjoyment. Although, we tend to be the only folks who dig on them.
* Three are mine, including a Duncan FH Zero. We're big on the freehanders.
posted by grubi at 5:39 AM on June 7, 2006
* Three are mine, including a Duncan FH Zero. We're big on the freehanders.
posted by grubi at 5:39 AM on June 7, 2006
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posted by Eideteker at 10:59 AM on June 6, 2006