Controlled Experiments in Folk Wisdom

Not to laugh at a kid's suffering or to encourage bullies, but it's possible these kids were just testing a theory.

According to police, the boys called him names and used sticks to hit the 11-year-old in the back and head. The sticks were about 30 inches long and between one and two inches in diameter.

The boy suffered minor injuries, but his mother took him to the hospital after calling the police. The boy was later released.

And though they didn't quite make it to the stones, it seems to me they validated my lifelong hypothesis: sticks and stones will most likely not break your bones, particularly when wielded by 11-year-olds, and words can kind of hurt, frankly.