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#89978 - 02/12/03 04:44 PM Re: G&S again
of troy Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 10/17/00
Posts: 5400
Loc: rego park
i have seen leather palms-- the kind to protect the palm of the hand. My father in law (now deceased) collected old ship making tools as a hobby. he had hand awls and sewing kits for sails. he even had an old box of oakum, as well as several old chisel like tools for packing the oakum. all the tools had a one peice, seamless leather straps, so the sailors could keep them on their wrist, and not have them fall into the water.

he had many augers, beautifully made, for fitting mortises into wood. timbers on wooden ships are large, and the augers were too!

He never 'went to sea' but always like ships and the ocean, and when (age 40) he faced being drafted in WWII, he joined the coastguard--a served as an engineer. His Coast Guard service was the only time he was at sea. (after the war he worked for Dept of Parks-- and was the "parkie"--(local name for park employees) for Flushing Meadow Park, as chief engineer in the park, he was responsible for over all park during the 1963 world fair in NY.)

_________________________
my other obsession

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#89979 - 02/12/03 04:45 PM Re: G&S again
tsuwm Online confused
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10462
Loc: this too shall pass
He's made to dwell in a dungeon cell
In a spot that's always barred.

this may be no more than referrence to his barred cell; or perhaps he has to play his extravagant matches against a superior foe with a spot (handicap) being barred (forbidden).

-joe pool


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#89980 - 06/21/03 07:16 PM Re: G&S again
maverick Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 09/15/00
Posts: 4757
In a spot that's always barred.

this may be no more than referrence to his barred cell...

Coming late to this spot, I believe this refers to the early days of English billiards when you could initiate high breaks by directly pocketing the red off its own spot - and at some time in the development of the game (quite likely around the time that The Mikado was written) a new rule was instituted which barred this action. I once played on an ancient table complete with mahogany score board marked something like Orme & Co Spot-barred Billiards, but of course Joe's right about the allusion to barred windows as the pun.

~ Billy Hardball


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#89981 - 02/08/04 11:36 AM Speaking of better late than never...
Fiberbabe Offline
old hand

Registered: 01/12/01
Posts: 771
Loc: Portland, Oregon
Actually, ot, I hadn't heard either term until now! But I'll carry the knowledge with me always, if only thimbolically.


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