Door-knocking prank
children's game
A door-knocking prank, colloquially known variously as knocky-door neighbours; knock, knock, ginger; ding dong ditch; Chappy; and knock a door run amongst other names, is a prank or game that dates back to the traditional Cornish holiday of Nickanan Night where it was originally called Nicky Nicky nine doors in the 19th-century or possibly earlier. The game is played by children in a lot of cultures. It involves knocking on the front door (or ringing the doorbell) of a victim, then running away before the door can be answered. The only names listed in the Historical Thesaurus of English are runaway knock (attested 1813) and runaway ring (1790). "Runaway Knock" is the title of paintings depicting instances of the prank by George Cruikshank (1855) and Stanhope Forbes (1888).
Name variations
The game in various forms is known by different names geographically, including the following:
Europe
Belletje-trek (lit. transl. bell pull; Flanders, Belgium, Netherlands)
Bobby knocking (Wales)
Chickenelly, Chappy, Chappies, Chicky melly Chap-door-run (Scotland)
Cherry knocking (Gloucestershire, England)
Ding dong skoosh, Ring bang scoosh (Scotland)
Dyraat (Iceland)
Klingelstreich (Germany)
Knick knack (Dublin, Ireland)
Knock and nash (United Kingdom)
Knocky Eye Door (Cumbria, United Kingdom)
Knock and run (England)
Knock door run (Leicester, England, midlands)
Knock down ginger (England)
Knock off ginger (England)
North America
Ding dong ditch (United States)
Doorbell ditch (United States)
Doorbell dixie (United States)
Nicky Nicky Nine Doors (Canada)
Knock-knock ginger (Canada)
Ring and run (United States)
Sonne-décrisse (transl. ring–fuck off; Canada)
Oceania
Knick Knocking (Australia)
Postman's Knock (New Zealand)
Africa
Tok-tokkie (South Africa)
South America
Rín-Rín-Raja (Chile)
Tin-Tin Corre-Corre (Colombia)
Ring-Raje (Argentina)
Asia
Bel-Twi (벨튀, South Korea)
Ping-Pong Dash (ピンポンダッシュ, Japan)
Legality
United Kingdom
The Town Police Clauses Act 1847 made it a criminal offence in towns in England and Wales and Ireland to "wilfully and wantonly disturb any inhabitant, by pulling or ringing any door bell, or knocking at any door" punishable with up to 14 days' imprisonment. The provision was repealed for the Republic of Ireland in 2013 and for England and Wales in 2015; it remains in force in Northern Ireland.
England and Wales
The prankster can face charges of trespassing and disturbing the peace. In England and Wales, trespassing is a civil matter rather than a criminal one, and the police will not compile a case for a victim.
“Door-knocking prank” enters the record as children's game. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Door-knocking, prank and children's can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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