Gig (g hard). A whipping top, made like a Ñ. ( I haven't seen a kid with a "gig" since I was
ten years old. The top was cone shaped, with a screw inserted deeply into tip, and ground to a point.
One laid a short length of string about like fish line a short ways from mtoiddly to the tip, and
then wound the string tightly about the top, more than halways toward the top. The other
end of the string had of bowline knot that fitted over the thumb. When the top was thrown
down, the tension on the string forced it to spin very rapidly. On a hard surface it would
spin for perhaps a minute. Big deal in those days. Some kids tried to split other kids' tops
by aiming their top at them. I never succeeded at that.