LL-L "Games" 2004.09.14 (08) [E]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
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From: Thomas <t.mcrae at uq.net.au>
Subject: Games with Tin Cans

Och this List bring back ancient memories to me.
I can recall two other dangerous pastimes involving tin cans.
First was the making of Fire Cans. One took a standard size tin and used a
stone to hammer a nail through it numerous times filling sides and base with
holes. Two larger opposing holes were then made in the apex of the open top,
a stout wire was passed through those to make a handle for swinging 20-30
inches long..
Starter combustibles went into the can which was swung censorlike to start a
blaze into which larger bits of wood were added. That was a fire can, it was
swung to really get the fire going then sent round in vertical circles
making a ring of fire, spectacular on a dark night. Finally as the impetus
built to a peak it was released to fly into the air, Even better were huge
fire cans made from old paint tins. Larger holes were needed but they were
diabolical,
The second required no preparation of the can. A firecracker was set up
erect in the middle of the street, fuse lit, and as it started fizzing the
daring lad would cover it with his can and run away fast. Cans would shoot
high into the air. Just after WW2 an Edinburgh firm making pyrotechnics for
the Forces covered surplus thunderflashes with fancy paper and sold them as
fireworks at 6d each. One of them placed under a paint can tended to blast
it apart, if placed in a metal garbage bin would send its lid as high as
adjacent 3 storey tenements.
Thinking back on this now I wonder how so many of us survived.
Regards
Tom
Tom Mc Rae PSOC
Brisbane Australia
"The masonnis suld mak housis stark and rude,
To keep the pepill frome the stormes strang,
And he that fals, the craft it gois all wrang."
>>From 15th century Scots Poem 'The Buke of the Chess'

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Lexicon" [E]

> From: Thomas <t.mcrae at uq.net.au>
> Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2004.09.13 (12) [E]
>
> Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org> wrote
> > But one of the hopscotch-like games we played we called "Kick the
> > Can", never "Kick the Tin". The "can" in this game was flat an round -
> > usually a shoe polish tin filled with dirt. Perhaps the phrase "Kick the
> > Can" was originally preferred merely for the alliteration.
> In Edinburgh this was a search and catch type game like Aleevoy.
> The can was a standard one used empty  and the game started when one
player
> threw it as far as he could. As the catcher ran to collect it the rest ran
> off and hid. Catcher placed the can upright then weny searching for his
pals
> and when he found one they had to return with him and stand in The Den.
Game
> ended when all were caught BUT players would try slinking up to kick the
can
> as far away as possible. If Catcher saw one he'd run up fast and try
tagging
> him, but once the can was kicked away all captives ran free to hide again.
> Great noisy game adults deplored.

Our "Kick the Can" was completely different. It was a grid of nine squares,
3x3, chalked on the ground and numbered 1 to 9 with 10 in a semicircle
adjoining the 7, 8, 9 squares. We threw the can into 1, then kicked it into
2 and so on up to 10, and then threw it into 2 and kicked it up to 10 &c,
hopping all the time and losing our turn if we stood on a line or if the can
landed on a line. I can't remember exactly how it was numbered - I seem to
remember sometimes having to kick the can more than two squares at a time
from right to left or vice versa.

Discouraged by adults because it ruined shoes.

> We called the game with the flat tin "Peevers" or "Peevery Beds".

We called this "pickies" (surprising how different all this is considering
I'm from a village only 12 miles from Edinburgh!). While my father was
rummaging for artefacts in the attic of the village school he came across a
box of flat stones  with "pykes" written on the side. It would seem as if
this was soem sort of pre-Ramseyan spelling for "pickies" and the game
actually goes back for centuries in the area, and was always called
"pickies". The name "pickies" is actually local to East Lothian and
thereabouts, "peevers" being a much more common name.

I see the "pickies" chart painted on the playground tarmac in English
schools and I've seen it in American films. I don't know where it started
but it was certainly everywhere in Scotland when street games were more
popular.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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