Alabama Zizzer Buttons

When I was a kid and we got a little bored, Mama would make us a zizzer button. She would take a long piece of thick thread, put it through the holes of a button, and tie the ends of the thread. We were young and naive enough to be thrilled by this. We would twist the ends of the thread around and round and round. Then we pulled at both ends. The button would zing around and give a high-pitched zzz-z-z sound ~ hence the name. Most of the world would call that a button-on-a-string, but being Southern, Alabama natives prefer the more poetic term.

Zizzer buttons weren't Christmas toys ~ no more than a June bug on a string, which wouldn't be around Christmas, and anyhow would have PETA up in arms. Today's kid would look askance at the humble zizzer button. But cell phones, CDs, and Star Trek were unheard of back then. Guitar Hero was unplugged. Times were simple, but from the sound of all that Depression talk, we might want to reexamine the lowly ZB!