Talking to my son about Knallerbsen and I'll be damned if I can remember what we called them in English as kids. Leo says "toy torpedoes" but that just doesn't ring a bell. Can anyone help?

Caps.

Edit : Here ya go, caps.

yeah i'm trying to remember the word... i can't i can only come up with Pop rocks (but that's not right since that's a type of candy), bottle rockets (that's not right either).

edit: firecracker?

As bluedave said, caps in GB English - I don't know whether the US has another word

In America, we call those "snappers," plain and simple.

EDIT: Clickeroo!

i've never heard the term "snapper" before.

That's because you're from Wis-cahn-sin.

WI at least uses similar terms to the rest of the country (e.g. we don't say "i'm fixin' to..." i'm fixing to make a sandwich?? what nonsense is that?!?!!?)

edit: to us 'snapper' is a type of fish. I also believe it might be a brand of lawn mower.

At least we pronounce our words correctly.

EDIT: Everyone knows what a "snapper" is, as far as fishy terms go. Lawn mower, though, I haven't got a clue.

yups. we pronounce things incorrectly, that's why newscasters throughout the country are taught to speak more like Midwesterners.

S'why I love you Wisconsin folks.

Thanks guys, I knew you'd come through. Snappers is the name I couldn't remember that we used to call them in Indiana when I was a kid.

Caps are, to me, those dots on a red strip that you put in a toy gun. But knowing that's what they are in GB might come in handy too, you never know.

In MN, right next to WI, we call'em snappers too.

Oh, and I agree on the caps thing too, wherestherock, in MN they're those dots on a red strip that you put in a toy gun...and you're right, it's always good to know the GB variation just in case it comes up sometime.

Now why the fuck wisconsinites call water fountains bubblers I'll never get.

Funny, we used to always call them "those little things you throw on the ground and they make a popping noise and a little spark if you're lucky". Who knew.

we call them Cherry Bombs,
we had 2 types of Caps- the kind BD posted for the rockets, they were cool, and the roll kind for a cap gun like Wherestherock and NOFX mentioned.

snappers for us in Canada are those braclets that snapped around your wrist, or like mere said a fish.

wow, cherry bombs in MN will do quite a bit more damage than snappers!!! (as in blow up a toilet...not that I'd do that...*cough*)

are your Cherry bombs the kind you light? Ours aren't.
See, you cannot really get fireworks in Canada, so we send our retired grandparents accross the border to sort of purchase them for us.

I only know them by the brand name under which they were sold: Snap-N-Pops

http://www.madhattermagicshop.com/magicsho...roducts_id=3163

If I'd not read the previous replies I would have thought the topic was about the plant. Knallerbsen / Schneebeeren (Snowberries in English).

Maschendrahtzaun / Knallerbsenstrauch

In England they used to be called snapits.

yep...look on wikipedia, it's the U.S. definition on there, apparently. (for cherrybombs)

According to wiki, they're illegal in all 50 states. Weird, as you can get bigger bombs no problem, lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_bomb

I remember them being called "devil bangers"