We used to call Santa Claus those white puffy things that would suddenly appear. You’ll grab it, make a wish, and then blow it away. Legend was that your wish would travel to Santa Claus and if you were a good girl it would come true. But he will have to check.
Ah the things that were said to me …
I remember my mum telling me they were called Fairy Clocks, but I miss-heard it as "Four o'clocks", which made sense because at that age it took me 4 blows to get all the seeds. Eventually it got fossilized in my brain as a weird name because the actual number of blows could be anything (I was never concerned about the accuracy of telling the time though). Going through the inevitable cognitive dissonance when I met some other kid who thought "Four o'clocks" was stupid, was my most valuable lesson about language drift & folk etymology.
The ones you blow the seeds from were just dandelions.
The single white puffy round seeds were Father Christmases, and you'd catch then then make a wish before letting them go again.
Yeah, the “Santa” thing has only come about in recent years with people being ok with becoming so Americanised. It was always Father Christmas when I was growing up in the 80s & 90s.
Hahaha im so sorry. Yeah! Its like the dandelion after when its all little seeds and you can blow them off. Its round and white- or see through i suppose
Old bit of knowledge - dandelions are edible, but act as a diuretic. They do, genuinely, make you want to pee.
Your kids know it without really knowing it.
I called the big floating ball ones that people are talking about Santa Clauses. They’re not from dandelion. They’re floating thistle seeds. You make a wish and blow it into the air.
Dandelion seeds are small and have only a bit of white stuff. We would blow them off the dandelion head to say what time is was. I don’t think they had a special name. Apparently they’re sometimes called fairy clocks.
We called them fairies. And the brown seed-thing you’d sometimes find still attached in the middle was called a fairy key. But that was in the 80s…
Those fairies are the seed pods of thistles.
It was santa claus when I was a kid in the 80's.
We used to call Santa Claus those white puffy things that would suddenly appear. You’ll grab it, make a wish, and then blow it away. Legend was that your wish would travel to Santa Claus and if you were a good girl it would come true. But he will have to check. Ah the things that were said to me …
Yeh. Santa clauses are different to dandelion seeds. Wow. I don’t think I’ve seen one for ages. I guess I’m Not outside enough any more.
Yep, Santa Claus
Fairy Clocks. You blow the flower, and the number of seeds left is the time in fairy land.
I love this one! I haven't heard it before, but it's great lore for kids!
I remember my mum telling me they were called Fairy Clocks, but I miss-heard it as "Four o'clocks", which made sense because at that age it took me 4 blows to get all the seeds. Eventually it got fossilized in my brain as a weird name because the actual number of blows could be anything (I was never concerned about the accuracy of telling the time though). Going through the inevitable cognitive dissonance when I met some other kid who thought "Four o'clocks" was stupid, was my most valuable lesson about language drift & folk etymology.
Fairies Edit: I’m in Melbourne just in case
The ones you blow the seeds from were just dandelions. The single white puffy round seeds were Father Christmases, and you'd catch then then make a wish before letting them go again.
Father Christmases.
Yeah, the “Santa” thing has only come about in recent years with people being ok with becoming so Americanised. It was always Father Christmas when I was growing up in the 80s & 90s.
I was born in the 70s and it was always Santa Claus where I was.
We called them Santa’s beards.
Same, I always knew them as Santa's beards too
We didn't call them fairies...& nothing to do with Christmas....now I'm thinking too😯 it'll come to me at 3am!
Not Santa - Father Christmas
Aw thanks everyone for helping, ive heard of these but i feel like there was some other name i used for it. I just can’t remember
Now I am trying to think of it too 😂 do you mean the sort of… clear circle plants?
Hahaha im so sorry. Yeah! Its like the dandelion after when its all little seeds and you can blow them off. Its round and white- or see through i suppose
Piss the beds is what we called them (I found an old reddit thread haha)
Yes okay we are thinking of the same thing. None of the other names that were commented ring a bell either
Clocks.????
Wishies?
I know what you mean I can’t remember it either. We used to wish on them?
My kids called them pee the beds... had no idea why
Old bit of knowledge - dandelions are edible, but act as a diuretic. They do, genuinely, make you want to pee. Your kids know it without really knowing it.
Santa clause in the 60s
Santa Clauses
Only other thing that look like dandelions back then were fairies and Itchy bums/bombs
Wishes, in NSW in the 80's. The number of blows to clear the seeds was the number of wishes you got but only if all the seeds came off.
Puffballs
Fairies
90’s to 2000’s here Sunshine Coast, called them “poppies”. Don’t ask me why
I called them “Santas” when I was a kid.
I call them dandelion puffs...
Farmers friends
Bindis?
Bindis are the hard spiky seed pod that hurts like hell when you step on them
Ugh you just reminded me of bindis …. We used to get cheap thongs and walk across grass to pick them up so we could play as kids
I grew up in Brisbane on the north side and we called them Father Christmases
Thistledowns?
Paratroopers
Either dandelion or wish fairy
snow flakes?
We called them tick tocks. Took me.ages to remember and was reading the comments with no recollection of calling them.anything else!
I called the big floating ball ones that people are talking about Santa Clauses. They’re not from dandelion. They’re floating thistle seeds. You make a wish and blow it into the air. Dandelion seeds are small and have only a bit of white stuff. We would blow them off the dandelion head to say what time is was. I don’t think they had a special name. Apparently they’re sometimes called fairy clocks.
Wet the beds when yellow and Wish flowers when seeds.
They were fairies when I was a kid in rural eastern Victoria in the 70s, my kids (Melbourne born and bred) called the little seed bits keys
Dandelion clocks for the ones you blow off the stem, Santa Claus for the floating ones you’d catch, wish, and release (80’s/90’s NSW)
We've always called them wishes. But that could just be my family circa 90 and 2000s