*twitches tail*
And, cooties, as I might add, are completely fictional. The stubborn and silly belief in them lasts as long as the child thinks love is gross. However, when I believed in cooties, the system went something like this:
Male cooties could only be caught by girls, and were transmitted by boys. Female cooties could only be caught by boys, and were transmitted through girls. If anyone caught cooties, they recited this chant: "Circle, circle, dot, dot. Now I've got my cootie shot." However, if they wished to prolong the effect, they would add "Circle, circle, square, square. Now I've got them everywhere." And, if they wished to further that, they would add "Circle, circle, knife, knife. Now I've got them all my life." The effect of this was an immunity to cooties until you forgot about it. (this was always quite soon)
"Circle, circle, dot, dot"?
