Conservative. Idaho. Software engineer. Historian. Trying to prevent Idiocracy from becoming a documentary.
Email complaints/requests about copyright infringement to clayton @ claytoncramer.com. Reminder: the last copyright troll that bothered me went bankrupt.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." -- Rom. 8:28
Identify a 19th century common use object an inch or so diameter and a foot or so long that person might carry not intentionally as a weapon but that might be used as such on sudden notice.
Proverbially, a good shepherd has such a tool called a "rod" and a similar, longer, one called a "staff". Up until the US Civil War mutton was common on the household table. Afterwards, the veterans came home with a taste for beef. The analogous stick a cow herd might use to stay out of hoof kick range and still poke a cow toward moves in the desired direction was called a "prod". Nowadays a "prod" implies an electrically augmented tool. But in the 19th century, as specified, it was merely a useful stick.
The wooden pool cue came into more common use in the 19th century.
" The cue stick was developed in the late 1600’s. When the ball lay near a rail, the mace was very inconvenient to use because of its large head. In such a case, the players would turn the mace around and use its handle to strike the ball. The handle was called a "queue" meaning "tail" from which we get the word "cue."
Billiard equipment improved rapidly in England after 1800, largely because of the Industrial Revolution. Chalk was used to increase friction between the ball and the cue stick even before cues had tips. The leather cue tip, with which a player can apply side-spin to the ball, was perfected by 1823. Visitors from England showed Americans how use spin, which explains why it is called "English" in the United States but nowhere else. (The British themselves refer to it as "side".)
Steam locomotives were tended by "firemen" who used various iron tools to reach and stir, move, rake out, etc the burning logs and coals in the furnace. These might all be varieties of a tool generically called a "poker".
In the one-room school houses of real life (and the novels "Anne of Green Gables" or later "Little House on the Prairie" ) the young women in charge of students up to the 8th grade, sometime males little younger and lots bigger than they themselves relied upon a "pointer" or "ruler" with which to indicate information on the blackboard -- or to command attention from distracted students by applying a rap across the knuckles.
Here in the 21st Century many truckers carry (and most truck stop / gas stations sell) so-called "Tire Thumpers" claimed to be useful in quickly assessing correct pressure in all the tires of an 18-wheeler.
The resemblance to a British Bobby's Billy Club is purely coincidental. https://www.amazon.com/Sparse-Hickory-Truckers-Pressure-Weighted/dp/B07Y43LPNL
A woman might carry a whorl of wool or cotton on a polished and pointed stick of the sort described, called a "spindle". It was used to make, by twisting fibers, (referred to "spinning" thread. The woman who had no husband or family duties or household and therefore occupied herself most usefully in such spinning was called a "spinster".
Let me guess, I should know the answer?
ReplyDeleteProverbially, a good shepherd has such a tool called a "rod" and a similar, longer, one called a "staff". Up until the US Civil War mutton was common on the household table. Afterwards, the veterans came home with a taste for beef. The analogous stick a cow herd might use to stay out of hoof kick range and still poke a cow toward moves in the desired direction was called a "prod". Nowadays a "prod" implies an electrically augmented tool. But in the 19th century, as specified, it was merely a useful stick.
DeleteThe wooden pool cue came into more common use in the 19th century.
Delete" The cue stick was developed in the late 1600’s. When the ball lay near a rail, the mace was very inconvenient to use because of its large head. In such a case, the players would turn the mace around and use its handle to strike the ball. The handle was called a "queue" meaning "tail" from which we get the word "cue."
Billiard equipment improved rapidly in England after 1800, largely because of the Industrial Revolution. Chalk was used to increase friction between the ball and the cue stick even before cues had tips. The leather cue tip, with which a player can apply side-spin to the ball, was perfected by 1823. Visitors from England showed Americans how use spin, which explains why it is called "English" in the United States but nowhere else. (The British themselves refer to it as "side".)
Steam locomotives were tended by "firemen" who used various iron tools to reach and stir, move, rake out, etc the burning logs and coals in the furnace. These might all be varieties of a tool generically called a "poker".
DeleteA belaying pin on a ship?
ReplyDeleteA "bindlestiff" used to balance a load over one's shoulder?
DeleteA riding crop? The sort of short whip a horseman might carry whether or not he's astride his horse?
DeleteIn the one-room school houses of real life (and the novels "Anne of Green Gables" or later "Little House on the Prairie" ) the young women in charge of students up to the 8th grade, sometime males little younger and lots bigger than they themselves relied upon a "pointer" or "ruler" with which to indicate information on the blackboard -- or to command attention from distracted students by applying a rap across the knuckles.
DeleteWhat is a shillelagh, Alex?
ReplyDeleteOnly if they were very, very short: A shillelagh is a walking stick, no?
DeleteNo, the shillelagh was originally a short stick and grew to become a walking stick.
DeleteSome variety of rolled newspaper truncheon, like a "milwall brick"?
ReplyDeleteIce pick
ReplyDeleteHere in the 21st Century many truckers carry (and most truck stop / gas stations sell) so-called "Tire Thumpers" claimed to be useful in quickly assessing correct pressure in all the tires of an 18-wheeler.
ReplyDeleteThe resemblance to a British Bobby's Billy Club is purely coincidental.
https://www.amazon.com/Sparse-Hickory-Truckers-Pressure-Weighted/dp/B07Y43LPNL
Somewhat larger than specified, but a gentleman's umbrella, or a lady's parasol, might be so pressed into defensive service.
ReplyDeleteRobin Williams teaches the Muppet, Elmo, how to use a stick.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/n0v5TIbTG9Q
https://youtu.be/c2uMwkn3fNY
A woman might carry a whorl of wool or cotton on a polished and pointed stick of the sort described, called a "spindle". It was used to make, by twisting fibers, (referred to "spinning" thread. The woman who had no husband or family duties or household and therefore occupied herself most usefully in such spinning was called a "spinster".
ReplyDelete