"quorum" -- early 19th C children's game

[George Thompson]

Still, "quorum" is the name of a Massachusetts children's game, one that the writer is reminded of by a Hawaiian game he doesn't know the name of.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
Date: Sunday, January 3, 2010 10:32 pm
Subject: Re: "quorum" -- early 19th C children's game
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> Here are two sources for Hawaiian games. BB
>
> 1. A list of Hawaiian games can be found at http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Culin/Hawaii1899/games/index.html.
>
> Among these is 68. Pla-pi-o - PRISONER-PLAY, TAG
>
> "The one who is 'it' (a-ku-a) is determined by counting out. He chases
> the others, and the one first tagged becomes a-ku-a in turn. Plaa is
> the English word "play," Hawaiian pa-a-ni."
>
> Another is 70. 70. Po-ai-pu-ni - Blind Man's Buff.
>
> "Children clasp hands in a ring, within which one stands blindfolded.
> The children dance around, and as they dance the ma-ka-po or
> 'blind-man' catches one and then tries to guess who it is. Ellis says
> that in Tahititupaurupauru, a kind of blind-man's-buff, was a favorite
> juvenile pastime, and Williams mentions blind-man's-buff in Fiji."
>
>
> 2. The American Anthropologist has a lot of games. http://tinyurl.com/ydcwb3z
>
> One selection from this page is:
> HAWAIIAN GAMES
> Ki-ni-ho-lo, Ball.
> Pe-ku-M-ni-po-pOy Ball-kicking.
> Pa-na-pa-na-lu-a, Pit-shootiDg [sic]
> Ki-o-la-o-la.
> Ki-mo-ki-mo, Jackstones.
> Pi-li-ka-la, Coin-betting.
> Pa-na-pa-na-hu-a, Seed-
> shooting.
> Ki-o-la-o-la-la-au, Stick-casting.
> Ki-no-a, Hop-scotch.
> He-lu-pa-ka-hi, One-by-one-
> counting.
> Pi-li-li-ma, Hand-betting.
> Pee-pee-a-ku-a, Ghost-hiding ;
> Hide-and-seek.
> He-lu-pa-a-ni, Play-counting.
> Pla-pi-o, Prisoner's play.
> Ho-lo-pee-a-na-lo.
> Po-ai-pu-ni, Blind-man's-buff.
> Pa-a-ni a-lu a-lu, Prisoner's
> base.
> Pa-na-i-o-le^ Mice-shooting.
> Mo'ko'fnO'ko,
> Ke-a-pu-a^ Arrow-throwing.
> Pa-hee,
> Mo-a,
> Ka-hu-a-kO't,
> Mai'ka.
> Ki'lu.
> Kt'O'la-o-la-le-na, Ring-casting.
> Pu-he-fU'he-ne,
> Ko'hO'kO'hO'pU'fit'U, Cocoa-
> nut shell guessing.
> Hu-na pO'ha-kUy Stone-hid-
> ing.
> Lu'lu.
> Ko-na-ne,
> Moo, Draughts.
> Ma-nUy Fox and geese.
> Jfu-ki'la-aUy Stick-drawing.
> Pau-nau'we, Jackstraws.
> Ko'hO'kO'hO'pu-aa^ Pig-guessing.
> Pe-pa-ha-kau, Cards.
>
> On Jan 3, 2010, at 6:59 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> > Subject:      "quorum" -- early 19th C children's game
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Here's the name of a children's game, not in the OED.  I only have
> the first 2 vols. of DARE.
> >
> >        SPORTS IN HONOLULU.   ***  There's good old bat and ball,
> just the same as when we ran from the school-house to the "Common" to
> exercise our skill that way; and then there is something which looks
> much like "quorum," and "tag" too, though what is the Hawaiian for it
> we know not.
> >        The Polynesian, December 26, 1840, p. 114 [p. 2], col. 3
> [likely written by the editor, James Jackson Jarves, born in Boston in
> 1818; entry in the American National Biography]
> >
> > I don't know what the nature of the game might have been.
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > George A. Thompson
> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
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