When I was a kid it was SPOKEN “trick or treat” but we understood it to mean the opposite: Come up with a treat or we’ll play a trick on you. Usually turning over their garbage cans or soaping their windshield or something moderately non-damaging. Now, folks seem to have reversed it into “show me a trick and I’ll give you a treat”. I’m okay with that, but it’s not what it USED to mean!
When I was a kid it was SPOKEN “trick or treat” but we understood it to mean the opposite: Come up with a treat or we’ll play a trick on you. Usually turning over their garbage cans or soaping their windshield or something moderately non-damaging. Now, folks seem to have reversed it into “show me a trick and I’ll give you a treat”. I’m okay with that, but it’s not what it USED to mean!