peeties and more dice slang

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 14:52:32 -0500, Mullins, Bill
<Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:

>>There's "African golf" again. Clearly there was some cross-pollination
>>between marble slang and dice slang.
>
>Short of seeing more evidence, I'd just assume this is kids (shooting
>marbles) acting like adults (who shoot dice).

But it wasn't just kids who were shooting marbles "for keeps". According
to the article, the term "African golf" referred to marbles as played by
troops stationed in Bordeaux. Perhaps the reporter was a bit misled, and
the troops were actually playing "Mississippi marbles"!


--Ben Zimmer