|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
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.)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
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
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
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
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Actually, ot, I hadn't heard either term until now! But I'll carry the knowledge with me always, if only thimbolically.
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,430
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
644
guests, and
1
robot. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
|