Scouting for “Camel Toads”

Posted by Alex in Everything Else, Pictures on March 5, 2008 at 6:57 pm


ZOMG! This is the funniest newspaper advice column I’ve read in a while. It’s from the 15 June 2005 installment of "Ask Leslie," an advice column written by librarian Leslie Potter for the Hays Daily News in Northwest Kansas.

The concerned reader sent in this question:

"I hope you can help me with a problem I have with my godson. … I found an unfinished correspondence to a chum of his in his hometown. In it he says he [is] going to to our local pool to "scout out some camel toads." … I’m concerned he is doing drugs.

I tried to look for camel toads in a drug book, and I didn’t find them, but I found references to some type of frog or toads that people in another country lick to hallucinate."

Snopes had a little more about the authenticity of the column (whether it was a real question or whether Potter made it up):

"There were several staff members at the library’s front desk the morning the "camel toads" letter arrived. When I opened and read it, I was thoroughly puzzled, as I had never heard of either camel toads or camel toes. But when I read it aloud to the staff, they practically started rolling on the floor. And their explanation is almost word-for-word what I used in my answer. I kept the original letter as a memento - and to show people who didn’t believe it could be real!"

Contrariwise blog has the larger scan: Link - Thanks Contrariwise!



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COMMENT

14 comments to "Scouting for “Camel Toads”"

  1. Justin
    March 5th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    HAHAHA!

  2. Ali S.
    March 5th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

    Oh so very wrong…I can’t help but giggle like a school girl.

  3. Seth
    March 5th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    That is great.

    But as far as “The funniest newspaper column,” my vote has to go to dearguy.com

  4. scoobnut
    March 5th, 2008 at 9:33 pm

    Hilarious.

    Reminds me of an excerpt from an article that’s been circulating around Facebook..

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/BlackFridayRuler/walmart.jpg

  5. Matt V.
    March 5th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

    Cute, but obviously something a prankster made up. It’s just a little too perfect for the letter writer not to be in on the gag. It may have been that she didn’t know what a “camel toe” was, found out, thought it was funny, and then decided to write in anyway. The spilled iced tea detail gives it away. A liar often provides a little too much detail. Why would a kid be drinking iced tea anyway? And how would she know exactly what had been spilled?

    It’s not as funny if you don’t believe the letter writer is really seeking an explanation, but like the Snopes entry says, it’s just a little too perfect.

  6. VonSkippy
    March 5th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    Of course it’s fake - what teenager writes an actual letter on paper these days (and to a “chum” no less)?

  7. MikeRM
    March 5th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    Just FYI, I have drank a lot of tea while I was growing up, being that that’s usually what my parents made. I’m not sure how you think that kids don’t drink tea.

    Why he would be writing it would be the question I would ask. While it’s not impossible for them to be actually sending letters, it’s more strange that he didn’t just email, call, or text page.

  8. Alex
    March 5th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    This one is funny too:

  9. Dan Smith
    March 6th, 2008 at 2:14 am

    That last comment was gold.

    The camel toad example seems authentic, although, I myself have sent in fake stories to advice columns…so it could be fake…

    None of mine ever got published btw.

  10. John Doe
    March 6th, 2008 at 2:36 am

    What really upsets me about this case is that the lady is shamelessly snooping on her godson’s correspondence.

    Isn’t there such a thing as privacy awareness in the US?

  11. Lea
    March 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    I love it when adults think kids are on drugs because they (the adults) don’t understand something.
    I was 12 and eating all the time. My mom thought I had the munchies. It was a growth spurt.
    And the bracelet thing parents thought was a dangerous pandemic, actually only happened at one school, with a small group of kids.
    And the “How to spot a tagger” post a couple days ago…

    besides that small rant, HILARIOUS.

  12. Paul
    March 6th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    I hate camel toes

  13. Christophe
    March 6th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    I ate camel toes.

    Sorry, that has to be made after Paul’s comment ;0

  14. ted
    March 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    Gotta be fake.


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