Who was the weird kid in your school and what did they do that made them so?

_Whimsical_ · 16-03-2016 04:42PM

When I was around 9 a new girl came to live in my estate and joined our class in school. She was absolutely bonkers. She was a sort of tough guy character from Grease come to life. It was a very sedate ladylike all girls school and having her around was like being in an ongoing episode of Home and Away, we were all fascinated to see what she'd do next. She arrived into school with a box of 20 cigarettes one day claiming to be a regular smoker and lit up, she used really bad language to our teacher leaving us all open mouthed, she had a new boyfriend every few days where none of the local 9 year olds were in that league at all. She was also worryingly well informed on all matters sex related but had a few key details very off kilter so her tales of her exploits were very bizarre indeed. We didn't believe any of it but were enthralled none the less.
Her thing was stealing from her boyfriends, she would go to their houses and take tokens of their affections for herself. Once she helped herself to one boys mother's ring. His sister was in a class above us and every lunchtime for a week war erupted in the playground at lunch when this girl would demand the ring back and Lorr would play the hysterical ex wife in a dallas-esque bitter divorce roaring about how she had got it when she was in a relationship, she had loved him, now he was gone and by christ he was not breaking her heart AND getting away with the ring.
She was always having a fight with someone and constantly required an audience for these melodratic showdowns.She was very light fingered and pretty much procured a little something for herself from everyone by the time she breezed back out of town as her family moved abroad. It was definitely a highly entertaining period of 3rd class though while it lasted.

I often wonder what happened to her and I've searched online to find out a few times but she had a very ordinary name so it's impossible to find out.

intheclouds · 16-03-2016 05:12PM

DanielODonnell wrote: »

You shouldn't assume that people who have a different personality have a mental illness, that is ignorant in my opinion. Not everyone can be the same. It is always the socially awkward people who get stigmatised with this unlike the overly social people who talked all though class.

While I agree, I also think its fair to say that general public awareness of mental health issues and disorders has been raised over the past couple of decades so in retrospect many of us can look back and realise that there were some kids who needed help or medical intervention but that whatever conditions they had just werent recognised back then.

Of course there were plenty of kids with no mental health issues or disorders and they were a bit on the odd side also and turned out fine.

Certainly I remember we would characterise some people as "a bit slow" when in fact today they would be considered to have one learning disability or another and actually be provided with a lot of help - back then it was sink or swim.

But there were also perfectly ordinary people who later said they were suffering one way or another.

I remember organising a reunion and a quiet type of chap from school who was very nice but just very quiet told me that although he appreciated the invite that his school days had not been happy and he had no good memories of the people or the place so would rather not attend the reunion. I was very surprised. Id had no idea in school that he was unhappy at all.

Peregrine · 16-03-2016 05:15PM

I don't think there were any weird kids in my school.

Oh..

Badly Drunk Boy · 16-03-2016 05:48PM

libelula wrote: »

There was a kid in my school that brought hummus and crackers and weird-ass vegetables for his lunch.
Nobody knew what to make of him, with our sangwiches of corned beef on pat the bakers bread with way too much butter.
His mammy was waaayyyy ahead of her time

Or probably more like, she was a witch!!

Easca Peasca wrote: »

The guy who was in to cos-playing and dressing up as cats. In an all-boys school it was pretty far-out.

A lad who was in my class in early primary school, used to think he was Spiderman. Nothing really wrong with that (let children use their imaginations) but he really thought he was Spiderman, not that he was pretending to be him.

By the time he got to secondary school, he was obsessed by Batman. He was a year behind me at that stage (I don't remember when he was kept back) but he was harmless enough and as far as I know, is a fully functioning member of society now.

failinis · 16-03-2016 06:03PM

I went to a primary school in a pretty rough area, and looking back, a lot of people had a lot of heavy stuff to deal with.

There was one guy who I would say now certainly was on the autistic spectrum.
(My brother is autistic and they pretty much match up) but as kids sure we just knew him as the "weird one".
He had "tics" and when he got stressed they came out, or he screamed running around a lot. He was rather quiet and done things to "prove" himself to the older boys.
I do remember I was near him by the red benches one day and he clapped his hands together then started crying (he caught a wasp mid clap - how do you even do that??)

I think I also was one of the odd kids, mainly just by being ill a lot and being quiet and non sporty.

Plenty of scumbags but now I feel more sorry for their home situations.

Turtyturd · 16-03-2016 06:40PM

They were all rounded up into the one class in our primary school, the maula class. At the time everyone was jealous because it appeared that they had to do no work.

Not the weird one, but I was kinda the odd one out in the early years of secondary school. Not popular enough to hang around with the popular kids in the class, but too popular for the nerdy kids to let me hang around with them either. It probably didn't help that I would rather read comics (before they were fashionable) and listen to music than interact with either of them. During transition year and the emphasis on social activities for the class it changed and everyone mingled a lot more.

Mozzeltoff · 16-03-2016 06:41PM

For a long time in school I was the weird kid. I was very quiet, over weight, hated sports and I was pretty much a "goth". I wasn't really though but apparently wearing Metallica/Megadeth/Slipknot hoodies, badges on my school jumper and being into art made me one. I had a small group of friends and we hung out the far side of the school, away from everyone else. We were content in our weirdness. We'd get hassle from some of the stupid knob heads but majority of the time we were left alone.

However I was dethroned as queen weird kid. This other girl joined the school when I was in fifth year. She was in third year along with my brother and she happened to be in a few of his classes. She started hanging out with us a couple of days of starting into school. My brother found out and used to scold me on it. Apparently there was rumours circulating that she was a schizo and a druggie.

Didn't believe it at first but a couple of weeks went by and she started to go a bit queer in herself. One morning we're walking down the corridor, chatting away. There was one of the boys I knew, big into GAA, minding his own business. As he passes she turns around to him and starts screaming all sorts of abuse at him. Apparently he was supposed to have muttered "****ing whore" at her but I know for a fact he said nothing.

Another morning, she came in with her hair plaited and had a ribbon running through the plait. It looked pretty and a few girls complimented her on it. She freaked out on one girl though and threw her into a bank of lockers over nothing.

One afternoon on lunch break, we were sitting in our usual spot. Over comes herself, and plonks down besides us. We don't take much notice of her. A few minutes later she pulls out a compass from a mathematical set, lifts her skirt and starts carving her thigh open. I caught the compass out of her hand and had a go at her over it. She just started laughing at me, telling me it was harmless. She also proclaimed that she liked the sight of blood and wanted to lick it..

I hate to say it but we started distancing ourselves from her. She was unhinged and she was liable to attack/assault anyone. She ended up getting kicked out of school because a teacher her saw her pull a flick knife from her boot and put it in her locker.

Looking back on it, she did have some major mental health issues.

Wibbs · 16-03-2016 07:31PM

Mozzeltoff wrote: »

I hate to say it but we started distancing ourselves from her.

I'd not be in any way ashamed of doing so M. As you said;

She was unhinged and she was liable to attack/assault anyone.

That's being naturally self protective. Some people are just dangerous loons and best avoided.

wakka12 · 16-03-2016 07:34PM

Is being trans sooo weird

Nodin · 16-03-2016 07:47PM

wakka12 wrote: »

Is being trans sooo weird

When? Now, no idea. When I was in school you wouldn't have been allowed in. Had you been allowed in you would have been doomed and nobody would have thought anything wrong as to your fate.

Deank · 16-03-2016 08:18PM

When we were in first year, about six months in, we were out on the football pitches doing laps when a stray dog ran in the gates.

One of the "rougher" lads started laughing, called the dog over and started to **** it off.

Yep, in front of his new schoolmates...he wanked off a dog. Laughing the whole time as if the depraved freak was expecting us to laugh along.

The freak.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 16-03-2016 08:28PM

Nodin wrote: »

When? Now, no idea. When I was in school you wouldn't have been allowed in. Had you been allowed in you would have been doomed and nobody would have thought anything wrong as to your fate.

I'd still worry about people transitioning when they're still at school. Firstly because I think they should be over 18 before making such a drastic decision and secondly because of the potential reaction to them from fellow classmates. Children can be absolutely cruel.

...And Justice · 16-03-2016 08:36PM

There was a kid in my class that decided to become a Muslim when we were in 6th class, he told all of us that everything we knew was false. Imagine that at 12?. I met him about ten years ago and he was still a devoted Muslim. He then proceeded to tell me the earth is flat and God is real and we are in some sort of birdcage.

????

Nodin · 16-03-2016 08:38PM

...And Justice wrote: »

There was a kid in my class that decided to become a Muslim when we were in 6th class, he told all of us that everything we knew was false. Imagine that at 12?. I met him about ten years ago and he was still a devoted Muslim. He then proceeded to tell me the earth is flat and God is real and we are in some sort of birdcage.

????

We were in familiar territory till we heard the last bit.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 16-03-2016 08:41PM

The weird kid in secondary school ended up trying to inhale gas where her friend was smoking and ended up in an explosion, she was badly burned and I think she still wears gloves.
I dunno what she's at now, think it's childcare

razorblunt · 16-03-2016 09:12PM

Don't think we had any weirdos, small class in primary, smaller again in secondary so everyone had their quirks and got away with them.

Some kid in 1st class alright usd to come to school in shorts and eat flax seed for lunch, or bird seed as we called it, that's the extent of the weirdness really.

Though a guy who was in the same class as us until 6th class later went on to rape his girlfriend/ex girlfriend and did time for it. He was always a quiet fella in class, just the clichéd fell in with the wrong group and went heavy into drugs.

jony_dols · 16-03-2016 09:16PM

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Not weird per say, but back in the mid 70's a German family bought a farm locally and their son came to our national school. He had no English and needless to say, no-one had any German. He was the best climber I ever saw. If the teacher displeased him (common enough occurance) he would bolt from the classroom and outside. In a flash he would shin up the gutter downpipe to the roof, run up the roof and sit on the ridge, refusing to come down untill 3pm.
We thought he was brilliant, the sight of our battle-axe of a teacher outside begging and pleading with him to come down was priceless.
Urus Angermann, where are you now?

I assume he's working alongside the Macedonian government, devising climb-proof fences!

We had a bit of a class divv. As part of our history class in 6th year, we had an NI school down for a week as part of a cross border intergration programme. After studying history for the previous 10 years, we were all pretty well versed on the Plantations ect, and even moreso after the exchange. At the goodbye ceremony, we had a last Q&A with the teachers & students, your man was mute all week and sincerely pipes up: Sir, what did they plant during the Plantations?

I believe that, that line set back the peace process by a decade

Stonedpilot · 17-03-2016 01:02AM

One guy was weird I thought, kept to himself extremely sarcastic and defensive and argued non stop with every teacher. He Becomes millionaire in late twenties!

Another guy I went to school with, not I'm my class but I often played snooker and pool with him had a serious temper, fly off on trivial things and he was very intense at times and you could sense he was suffering mentally. His mental health deteriorated alot over the years and when he was in his early twenties he murdered his girlfriend horrifically painting her name in blood as she lay dying etc. Was national news few year ago.Hes in prison now, sadly she had a toddler from a previous relationship. Never expected him to kill someone as people seen him as "harmless" and he had a very unassuming nature but those that knew him understood there was a warped mind behind it.

ButtersSuki · 17-03-2016 01:51AM

There was a guy in my class in secondary school who I always felt very weird and uncomfortable around. He had an extraordinary interest in all sorts of military weaponry and guns in particular - he even had a local newsagents import "Guns & Ammo" especially for him. He used to talk about Robocop like it was a documentary and would often come to school dressed in full combat gear. He was also huge (average height but built) and a meat head. He had some crazily extreme views for a teenager about killing basically everyone in the world who wasn't on the same page as him. To this day every time there's a mass shooting in the US I genuinely check to see if he's the shooter - not even joking about that. I have no idea what became of him but I would suspect he's either a gun for hire in some sort of private army in a war zone somewhere, a US marine, dead, or an accountant.

I went to secondary school in Galway City by the way!

I think one of the reasons I possibly felt weird around him is I was over 2 years younger than him and in the same class as him. He was at the older extreme of the class age profile where the next youngest after me was a full year older than me. I'm sure a lot of my classmates probably found me to have been very quiet and shy until after I turned 15 though so hey, who am I to judge?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 17-03-2016 02:02AM

I was definitely one of them in primary school, but there was a strong field of contenders for the title. My sister on more than one occasion did things like pulling clumps of her hair out or eat bugs for various reasons (people annoyed her, people dared her, she just felt like it). One girl used to drop to her knees and thank the goddess of the wind when she was overheated from running around, and started a religious war one lunchtime because she got really into Druidism. But I used to pretend to be a shape-shifting fox-person with her, so I won't judge.

I was pretty odd in secondary school and suffered for it for the first few years, I wouldn't say I was bullied but definitely isolated. Really wish I could have maintained the kind of IDGAF weirdness I had up until the age of ten or so, started being very shy and sensitive and basically terrified and hating myself when social pressure started being a thing I paid attention to. I'm twenty seven now and it'd be nice to tell my thirteen year old self that she was a perfectly fine person, she didn't need to be upset over any of that nonsense and she wouldn't give half an absentminded shít about what those people thought pretty soon.

Mozzeltoff · 17-03-2016 02:38AM

Wibbs wrote: »

I'd not be in any way ashamed of doing so M. As you said; That's being naturally self protective. Some people are just dangerous loons and best avoided.

I get what you're saying. There was no doubt about it she was dangerous but I guess I used to berate myself a little for ditching her because part of me felt sorry for her. She started out as a bit of a loner and I hate seeing people left alone so I invited her to hang out with us. For a long time I used to believe that we could help her and that even though we were a muddled little group of misfits we'd be some sort of friendship for her. I know now she needed more than friendship to sort her out but back then in my little 16 year old mind, it could fix bullet wounds.

But sure she was a loose cannon. Looking back on it I now realise that she suffered some form of mental illness. She heard things apparently, people constantly whispering stuff about her, the self harming, set hates on people, the violent out bursts and accusing people of all sorts. She was way too out of it. I heard plenty of rumours that she was on drugs, never seen her take anything but I don't even think drugs could cause her "erratic" behaviour.

Found out through a friend of a friend a few years back that she's still hanging around a town I grew up near. She's meant to have a kid now and is supposed to be living with a few Jeovah Witnesses.

Charles Babbage · 17-03-2016 02:38AM

I had the dubious honour of attending primary school with a psychopath, who has spent most of the time since in a big house in a Midlands town following a murder and some other stuff. Definite case of nature rather than nurture, as he was adopted by mild mannered caring people.

Chain Smoker · 17-03-2016 09:37AM

Undoubtedly was me, retrospectively I'm stunned that I didn't realise why bullies targeted me so much.

My mam was my teacher for the first three years, she never had a kid of her own in the class before so because I was quiet she just let me do whatever so I'd be wandering freely around the school by myself.

In the mornings when we had to tell about our news for the day, I got into the habit of memorising the names from the death notices on the radio and reciting them out to the class.

I went through a phase of forcing the whole school to spend their lunch watching me do a funeral any time I found a dead animal around the school. I can vividly remember one of the last times, trying to digging a hole with my bare hands to put a dead bird into as the whole school watched me ...I was about 10 at the time.

Had an openly acknowledged feud with the parish priest from ages 5-8.

For art I used to always insist on making something completely different to what the teacher asked, I'd just grab the materials and go off to a corner and reveal my creation at the end of the class ...unless it sucked, then I'd throw a bit of a strop and destroy it.

One teacher used to do a drama thing for an hour on wednesdays, the winners got some sweets and stuff. I got really into the whole writing part and no one else did so my team always won pretty much by default, I thought it was because I was a GENIUS though, gradually went a bit nuts about like some autocratic Erich Von Stroheim nightmare director.

razorblunt · 17-03-2016 10:46AM

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Had an openly acknowledged feud with the parish priest from ages 5-8.

I love this.

Did it culminate in a ladder match at Wrestlemania on the eve of your 8th birthday?

Chain Smoker · 17-03-2016 10:54AM

razorblunt wrote: »

I love this.

Did it culminate in a ladder match at Wrestlemania on the eve of your 8th birthday?

Hell in a Cell, duhr :rolleyes:

Stonedpilot · 17-03-2016 11:52AM

Only a few murderers mentioned, Thought be more knowing the deeply unhinged minds you met in Ireland growing up.

Dick phelan · 17-03-2016 02:45PM

Knew one guy who was sound for the most part but had a serious temper, He'd go mental over even something small either at other students or teachers, one incident i remember was him throwing a chair out the window during class, also would do things like start punching the wall when he went into a rage, for the most part he was a nice guy, found out after that his father was sent to jail for something horrific a few years previous, would probably explain a lot of his issues, i hope he's in a good place and not in jail or something, he'd racked up a few convictions while still in school all of them for assault.

17-03-2016 02:50PM

Dick phelan wrote: »

Knew one guy who was sound for the most part but had a serious temper, He'd go mental over even something small either at other students or teachers, one incident i remember was him throwing a chair out the window during class, also would do things like start punching the wall when he went into a rage, for the most part he was a nice guy, found out after that his father was sent to jail for something horrific a few years previous, would probably explain a lot of his issues, i hope he's in a good place and not in jail or something, he'd racked up a few convictions while still in school all of them for assault.

There's nothing more terrifying than a person with a temper like that, you just don't know when they'll kick off or how bad it'll be. I knew a lovely guy, really sweet, but he lost his temper over some imagined trivial slight one day and put his fist through a door and smashed up his hand. No way did I want to be around him after that, he was like a grenade.

It must be really awful to be like that and have no control, knowing the trouble you can get yourself into. I wonder how well anger management can work for someone so prone to explosions of rage over relatively trivial things.

MilesMorales1 · 17-03-2016 02:50PM

I did a thing (well I did lots of dumb things) but the ones that spring to mind

- blowing up a used condom some kids suggested I blow up while we were playing football
- Jumping off the school roof cos the guys in my class suggested it.
- taking great pleasure in doing terrible farts in a closed classroom

Christ, how I wish I could go back and fix all the things I did

Shenshen · 17-03-2016 03:25PM

I would say I was one of them in secondary school, definitely. I had a lot of problems at home with my father and looking back would say I would have needed help. Not that I would have accepted that at the time, though.
I can't remember doing anything outrageous, I was always quiet and shy. Mostly, I just didn't do anything. Wouldn't reply when spoken to, wouldn't have my homework, coming to school without books... if anything you could say I was trying to just not exist at all. I know it freaked people out quite a bit, but since I didn't react much to bullying I was mostly just observed with suspicion by my class mates.

Primary school had been better, and besides we had 2 Jehova's Witnesses in class then - even if I had tried, I could not have out-weirded them.

Who was the weird kid in your school and what did they do that made them so?

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