The tooth fairy?

Have you paid the tooth fairy back yet??

The tooth fairy?
I am the tooth fairy....
Reply:Nope
Reply:No, she still owes me 25 cents
Reply:Nope....
Reply:no
Reply:i should i know, i have the best set of teeth eva!! thanks toothfairy!!
Reply:Heck no, I only got a lousy quarter a tooth. Cheap bastard...All my friends got 1-5 dollars.
Reply:I am the tooth fairy at our house. All accounts are up to date.
Reply:didnt know we were supposed to
Reply:No not yet but i will when i see her..
Reply:no. good luck.
Reply:Yes she got my tooth and I got the dollar. We are even- steven
Reply:She still hasn't given me back my lunch money.
Reply:NO ITS MY MONEY!
Reply:Once I found a small box full of tiny little teeth in my mom's sock drawer when I was about 10, scarred me for life. I'm not paying her back, ever! :'(
Reply:For what? She *took* my teeth!
Reply:Isn't she related to Sanjaya on American Idol!
Reply:No. I'm not done yet. I still got at least 3 teeth!
Reply:The Tooth Fairy calls upon the European folklore of House Elves or Brownies who will often perform useful tasks or exchange valuable treasures for things humans view as mundane or useless.





Cultural historians say that superstition has always surrounded teeth and these valuable tokens have been used to ward off witches and demons in the past. Vikings were even supposed to give children a "tooth fee" for using children's teeth.





Likewise, if discarded body parts such as teeth, nail clippings or hair fell into hostile hands, it was believed that they could become the focus of sympathetic magic. In Guernsey, toenail clippings and teeth were traditionally burnt to forestall this.





In a variety of cultures, the shedding of the first baby tooth became a kind of ritual. This rite of passage has been documented in numerous ways. Many of these ceremonies included verbal incantations and wishes, along with actions. Variations on this custom were most likely passed along through oral communication.





The most commonly accepted belief by academics is the fairy's development from the tooth mouse, depicted in an 18th century French language fairy tale. In "La Bonne Petite Souris," a mouse changes into a fairy to help a good Queen defeat an evil King by hiding under his pillow to torment him and knocking out all his teeth. Also, in Europe, baby teeth used to be fed to rodents and other animals in the hopes of getting sharper, more rodent-like teeth in the future[citation needed].





This combination of ancient international traditions has evolved into one that is distinct in the United States, United Kingdom, and other Anglophonic cultures. Folklorist Tad Tuleja suggests three factors that have turned this folk belief into a national custom: postwar affluence, a child-directed family culture, and media encouragement.





Pioneering scholar Rosemary Wells, a former professor at the Northwestern University Dental School, found archival evidence that supports the origin of different tooth fairies in the United States around 1900, but the first written reference to one specific symbol in American literature did not appear until the 1949 book, "The Tooth Fairy" by Lee Rothgow. Considered the world's tooth fairy expert, Dr. Wells even created the Tooth Fairy Museum in 1993 in her hometown of Deerfield, Illinois. But according to the local library, it evaporated after her death when her husband liquidated all her memorabilia.





The "Ratoncito Pérez" character was created around 1894 by the priest Luis Coloma (1851-1915), a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language since 1908. The Crown asked Coloma to write a tale for the 8 years old Alfonso XIII, as one of his teeth had fallen out. The child in the story was called Bubi, which is what Alfonso was knicknamed by his mother the Queen Doña María Cristina.





In some Asian countries, such as Japan and Korea, when a child loses a tooth the usual custom is that he or she should throw it onto the roof if it came from the lower jaw, or into the space beneath the floor if it came from the upper jaw. While doing this, the child shouts a request for the tooth to be replaced with the tooth of a mouse. This tradition is based on the fact that mice's teeth go on growing for their whole life. The similarity to Western traditions about mice and teeth is most likely a coincidence.








[edit] Tradition


The Tooth Fairy is an example of folklore mythology sometimes presented to children as fact. Other prominent examples are Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Great Pumpkin.The realization or discovery that such stories are make-believe is considered a part of the child's growing up. Such realizations can also cause significant emotional pain in some children due to feelings of betrayal, while other children regard it as a small matter or are proud of themselves for having unmasked the truth. Many adults remember clearly for their whole lives when and how they discovered the truth.





Many families participate in the roles of this myth even when the children are also aware of the fictionality of the supposed supernatural entity, as a form of play or tradition.





This tradition is present in several western cultures under different names, for example in Spanish-speaking countries, this character is called Ratoncito Pérez, a little mouse with a common surname. In Italy also the tooth fairy (fatina) is often substituted by a small mouse (topino). In Ireland the tooth fairy is sometimes known as annabogle, although this is a more recent tradition. From parts of Lowland Scotland, comes a tradition similar to the fairy mouse: a white fairy rat which purchases the teeth with coins.





Tooth traditions in different parts of the world have been collected together in the excellent children's book Throw your tooth on the roof: tooth traditions from around the world written by Selby Beeler and illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Houghton Mifflin, 1998).








[edit] Tooth Fairy Ritual





An eight-year old's gift to the Tooth FairyTypically, upon losing a tooth the child places the tooth under his or her pillow before going to sleep. In the morning the child finds a coin, small banknote, or a present in the place of the tooth. In reality, this is usually done by the child's parents.





A less-common variant is for the child to place the tooth in a glass of water beside the bed. Again, in the morning, the tooth is replaced with a coin. This variant is becoming more common, as it is far easier for parents to find a tooth in a glass of water beside the bed without waking the child than it is to search under the pillow.





The primary useful purpose of the tooth-fairy myth is probably to give children a small reward and something to look forward to when they lose a tooth, a process which they might otherwise find worrisome. It also gives children a reason to give up a part of themselves that they may have grown attached to.





Some believe that other useful purposes include giving children a sense of faith in things unseen, believing in the incorporeal, and helping them understand the difference between the real and the imaginary. According to popular folklore, teeth will be exchanged for presents on any day of the year except Christmas.
Reply:Nope.
Reply:hell no!!!
Reply:I'm listening, lol♥
Reply:yes! i give that lady money all the time
Reply:My tooth fairy has been paid back. =)
Reply:no why should i i miss my baby teeth they were cute
Reply:seeing that the tooth fairy is my mom i say yes because i gave her 3 grandkids