What’s That Keychain Material Called That We All Made When We Were Kids?

Remember when your summer camp counselor would pull out the box of string and show everyone how to start a keychain?

You’d cross the strings, make a few loops, weave over and under, and then pull it all tightly together?

Those moments were awesome! When the world was slow and nothing else mattered other than lining up your strings properly.

But now in the age of technology, it seems like more and more people are pushing back and trying to go back to their roots.

What were those things called?

Well, that’s where it gets complicated…

Beyond calling them keychains, the actual name for them varied by region.

In the US, many people in the west called them lanyards, while people out east called them boondoggle. The further north you traveled, up into Canada for example, the more you’d hear them referred to as “gimp.”

Then travel overseas and Australia was calling them scoobies.

Then name actually comes from France, where they were called, “Scoubidou.” It started as the art of weaving long plastic lace tubes together into cute shapes and patterns that you could share with friends and family.

Nowadays, there is still no standard name for them beyond what they actually are- which are woven plastic lace keychains.

What do you know them as?