A Sticky Situation

Today at school I gave a spontaneous lesson on the different kinds of tape there are. When I went to get tape for something, I noticed we had four different kinds, and I thought it would be fun to talk about. Turns out, the kids were riveted, and we grownups learned a thing or two also!

I began with Scotch tape. I told the kids that it was clear tape that was best used for putting pieces of paper together. Jo, a mom, and new member of the Co-op from England, piped up that in England, Scotch tape was called cello tape. So now we say Scotch or cello tape. Of course I had to add that it's also called cello tape in New Zealand, which I learned from watching Flight of the Conchords. They have a whole song about how cello tape is like love, sticky, but it holds people together, etc. Then Jo, who is a CSI in England, said something about using cello tape to lift fingerprints with the dusting powder, etc. I said we'd talk about that later, and quickly moved on to the next roll of tape.

Which was masking tape. Same thing in England. A little stronger than Scotch tape, I like to use it when hanging the meeting chart each day to show where each grownup will be at school. I'm usually at the art table. I noted that with Scotch tape and masking tape, you can rip it by yourself.

Next, we moved onto packing tape. We had a clear roll. Well, here's where it got interesting. In England, if it's clear, it's still called cello tape. If it's packing tape in America but it's brown, it's called parcel tape in England. So, any clear tape in England is called cello tape. Brown tape for wrapping parcels is called parcel tape. Makes sense. In America, it's the type of tape, not the color, that determines it's name. Clear or brown, it's still packing tape. I told the kids you had to use scissors to cut packing tape, because it's really strong.

And then the granddaddy of them all, duct tape! Which I told everyone was duct, d-u-c-t, but lots of people thought it was "duck" tape (several adult heads nodded), and then one company capitalized on that mistake by naming their company Duck Tape, so it was very confusing. Anyway, it's duct tape in England too. I told the kids duct tape was the strongest tape we had, and it had all sorts of uses. I asked Rosie to bring me the crayon basket, and explained that years ago it was a woven basket that had gotten holes in it. Instead of throwing it away, I wrapped the whole thing in duct tape, and it's lasted for years. I pointed out that duct tape could be seen all over the Co-op, we liked it so much. Mom Trish pointed out that duct tape now comes in designer colors! Tomorrow I'll have to bring in my roll of hot pink duct tape. Which I really have.

That concluded our lesson on tape. I love spontaneous lessons. And tape.