It played out just like the classic scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" — minus the triple-dog dare.
But it didn't happen just once. In the past two weeks, six curious kids at a Roseville elementary school learned the painful lesson of what happens when you stick your tongue to a frozen pole.
It hurts. A lot.
Just like the character Flick, the kids panicked when they realized they could not immediately pull their tongues free.
"You know how you see the movie and the kid is screaming and crying and stuck? That's kind of what it looks like here — they're trying to talk and cry and scream at the same time, because it kind of hurts," said Jen Wilson, principal of Emmet D. Williams Elementary School.
Luckily, teachers did not have to dial police or firefighters for help.
Some of the kids ripped their tongues away themselves; one even returned to the pole the next day to search for remains. The others stayed put until an adult brought them warm water.
"You just can't make this stuff up," Wilson said.