Cooties are real. Apparently, "cootie" comes from the Malay word "kutu," meaning "dog tick." Fortunately, you can easily make a cootie catcher wit the added benefit that the device doubles as a fortune teller, chatterbox, whirlybird, salt cellar, etc.
From Mental Floss:
The 1928 book Fun with Paper Folding contained the "salt cellar," which, when inverted from how we're used to seeing it today, was meant to invoke a container that could hold and pour salt. The points of a cootie catcher become legs and the spaces for fingers open up to hold the salt.
The exact lineage and timeline for the introduction of the cootie catcher around the world is somewhat murky. Most sources suggest it's possible that it appeared in Europe as early as the 17th century. It's safe to say though that by the 1950s, cootie catchers had started to appear in England and the United States, and propagated from there.
"A Brief History of Cootie Catchers"
(GIF via Hello Giggles)
