[Ads-l] monkey in the middle (1952)

[Parish, James]

Ben Zimmer wrote, of "pig in the middle":
> "A children's game in which
> one player is encircled by others and must attempt to escape; a chasing
> game in which players must cross from one side of an open space to the
> other without being stopped by an opposing player; (now chiefly) a ball
> game, usually for three players, in which the middle player tries to
> intercept the ball as it passes between the other two. Also: the player in
> the middle in any of these games."

I know the second of these as "British Bulldog". (There are some more 
specific rules: the intercepting team begins with one player, the 
Bulldog, and any crossing player who is lifted completely off the ground 
joins the intercepting team for the next round. The last remaining 
crossing player becomes the Bulldog for the next game.) (I was good at it.)

Jim Parish


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org