[Ads-l] YouTubery: "I guess you never heard of a _wheelbarrel_."

Andy Bach afbach at GMAIL.COM
Mon Apr 22 15:06:47 UTC 2019


>   as they had upon this day an opportunity of exhibiting their talents in
a jingling match

"Jingling match?" Tom Brown's School Days (6th ed) - 1857ish:
Now there is a rush of the crowd, and a tinkling bell is heard, and shouts
of laughter; and Master Tom mounts on Benjy's shoulders and beholds a
jingling-match in all its glory. The games are begun, and this is the
opening of them. It is a quaint game, immensely amusing to look at, and, as
I don't know whether it is used in your counties, I had better describe it.
A large roped ring is made, into which are introduced a dozen or so of big
boys and young men who mean to play; these are carefully blinded and turned
loose into the ring, and then a man is introduced not blindfolded, with a
bell hung round his neck and his two hands tied behind him. Of course,
every time he moves the bell must ring, as he has no hand to hold it, and
so the dozen blindfolded men have to catch him. This they cannot always
manage if he is a lively fellow, but half of them always rush into the arms
of the other half, or drive their heads together, or tumble over; and then
the crowd laughs vehemently, and invents nicknames for them on the spur of
the moment, and they, if they be choleric, tear off the handkerchiefs which
blind them, and not unfrequently pitch into one another, each thinking that
the other must have run against him on purpose.
https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:Tom_Brown%27s_School_Days_(6th_ed).djvu/64&oldid=8463961

On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 1:53 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> > A meaning missing from the English OLD (
> https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wheelbarrow <
> https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wheelbarrow>) and Wiktionary
> (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wheelbarrow <
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wheelbarrow>) for wheelbarrow is the human
> wheelbarrow where one person grabs another by the legs and the person who
> is grabbed moves by moving their arms. This is surely common enough to be
> beyond metaphorical usage.
> >
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCCb0wxyodM <
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCCb0wxyodM>
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPp3YrZxe8 <
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPp3YrZxe8>
>
> The OED has an entry for the compound "wheelbarrow race" which
> apparently involves simply pushing a wheelbarrow. There is also a
> separate entry under derivatives for "wheelbarrow race" which involves
> (sense a) pushing a human in a wheelbarrow or (sense b) pushing a
> human imitating a wheelbarrow.
>
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> wheelbarrow, n.
> Compounds
>  C1. General attributive.
> wheelbarrow race  n.
>
> 1837   D. Walker Games & Sports 341   Wheelbarrow Race... Along this
> course, over the bridge, and up to the goal, the candidates must drive
> their barrows blindfolded—if they can.
> [End OED excerpt]
>
>
> [Begin OED excerpt]
>   wheelbarrow race  n.  (a) a race in which each contestant pushes a
> wheelbarrow (usually occupied by a team-mate);  (b) a race between
> teams of two, one team member holding up the legs of the other, who is
> the wheelbarrow and ‘walks’ as quickly as possible on his or her
> hands.
>
> 1874   Thistleton's Illustr. Jolly Giant 1 Aug. 51/3   We would advise
> all who wish to dance and witness the athletic games and sports,
> wheelbarrow race, prizes, especially the box of cigars, valued at $2,
> to start early for Fasskin's Gardens.
>
> 1903   Daily Chron. 31 Mar. 9/1   Wheelbarrow races and stone-rolling
> competitions.
> [End OED excerpt]
>
> Here is a citation for "wheelbarrow race" from 1827, but the citation
> does not include a precise description of the event.
>
> Date: April 12, 1827
> Newspaper: Berrow's Worcester Journal
> Location: Worcester, Worcestershire, England
> Quote Page 4, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Saturday, 31st, was looked forward to by the lads in the village with
> delight, as they had upon this day an opportunity of exhibiting their
> talents in a jingling match, pig race, sack race, wheelbarrow race,
> catching at suspended rolls dipped in treacle, eating hot hasty
> pudding, &c. &c.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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