'It's just like A Christmas Story': Northerners recall sticking their tongues to frozen metal

Every winter tongues fall victim to frozen metal objects — whether it's by accident or they're triple-dog dared.

As immortalized in the 1983 holiday cult classic A Christmas Story, a kid named Flick gets his tongue stuck to a frozen pole after being triple-dog dared to lick it.

Northerners know a thing or two about freezing in the winter months. A few of them shared their stories about getting their tongues stuck.

'That was when I knew I messed up'

Kimberley Galbaransingh lives in Yellowknife but says she learned her lesson about the dangers of sticking her tongue to metal objects when she was a young girl growing up in Edmonton in the '80s.

Galbaransingh says she and her two brothers came home from school one day and were locked out. They decided to use a ladder to see if they could get into the house through a window on the second floor.

As Galbaransingh was holding the ladder, she says she began wondering why her school had sent letters home warning parents about kids getting their tongues stuck. 

"I was like 'well it can't be that bad'. So I stuck my tongue to the ladder, and that was when I knew I messed up."

Galbaransingh says she began crying. The kids didn't have access to any warm water, so had to rip her tongue free and it "started bleeding like crazy."

When her parents came home, Galbaransingh says she was too scared to tell her dad what had happened. 

"That night my dad made Tuna Helper and he thought I was just being picky because I couldn't eat it because my tongue hurt so much."

'Stuck! Stuck! Stuuuuuck!'

It's not only kids that get their tongues stuck — and it's not always by accident.

Yellowknifer and Cabin Radio host Jesse Wheeler says the radio station was filming a commercial for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission about workers' safety when he "drew the short straw" to take on the role of sticking his tongue to a light pole for a gag.

"Just like when you were a kid, it immediately terrifies you," he said, noting a cup of warm water was at the ready to set him free. 

"As soon as you feel it stick, it's just like A Christmas Story where he's just like 'this is easy' And then immediately you're like 'Stuck! Stuck! Stuuuuuck!'"

Wheeler says this wasn't his first foray into the world of getting his tongue stuck to metal poles. 

He remembers being in the yard during recess when he was in Grade 1 at Mildred Hall School and sticking his tongue to the pole of a chain link fence. 

"I ripped it off. I just kind of leaned back and ripped it off. And I remember my tongue actually bleeding a little bit."

'In horror I'd realized what I'd done'

It's something that can happen to animals too.

Jared Monkman says one cold winter's night in Hay River, N.W.T., he was taking his German shepherd Donte on a walk  when the dog began sniffing at his favourite pole. Monkman says he pulled on Donte's leash to continue walking when he realized the dog's tongue was stuck.

"My body was going through the motion of pulling him away and my brain's realizing what's happening and in slow motion I watch his tongue rip off the frozen pole," he recalls. 

"In horror I'd realized what I'd done, but it was too late."

Monkman says it sounded like tape being ripped off a surface. While it only took a brief second, he says Donte was licking his lips all the way home.