Its conker season and British schoolkids are as busy as squirrels collecting chestnuts.
However despite the collecting I see very little if no actual conkering these days. You know, where a hole was drilled [how did we do that?] through the chestnut and a knotted string was pulled through.
Boy, did we have fun back in the day when conkers where a seasonal relief from pitch and toss and kick the can.
I was never really much good at conkers, never mastering the killer blow that could shatter a lesser nut in a single thwack. I did try though.
I imagine top winning conkers were guarded by rottweillers. I never had one.
Back in Preston where I grew up they were actually called cheggies or cheggers and not conkers. I understand that conker comes from conquer, which makes perfect sense. No idea where cheggies came from!
Did you smash each others' chestnuts as a kid in your part of the world readers?
It never really made it as a toy did it. A plastic conker?
We did do conkers in my part of the world (West Yorkshire), but I too was never any good.
ReplyDeleteI suppose 'Clackers' were the nearest thing to plastic conkers, though a lot more dangerous, of course.
As for 'Cheggies', surely they were named after the Scouse legend and kids TV presenter Keith Chegwin!
I still have some clackers. Contraband! Cheggies and cheggers is a much older word that Keith Chegwin Mish. He wasn't on telly in the 60's. Like Yorkshire, there are lots of strange words in Lancashire!
DeleteThere were rumours at my school that some kids were artificially enhancing the strength of their conkers, Woodsy. Kinda giant armoured conkers on steroids which may or may not have been soaked in some secret formula? Today, those accused of secret conker R'n'R back then, refuse to comment on the subject.
ReplyDeleteha ha, this tickled me Tone. It read like a newspaper headline! Scandalous! Were you in possession of the secret formula perchance?
DeleteNOPE... and if you mention it again you'll hear from my legal team :)
DeleteWe used skewers to make the holes on our conkers. Cheaters would try pickling in vinegar or putting them in the oven to go rock hard. I did have one good one that lasted a dozen bouts before it finally got blasted to pieces.
ReplyDeleteTheres quite a few horse chestnut trees just a short walk from me. They dont seem to have many conkers on them this year, just the odd bunch of 2 or 3 here and there.
Skewers eh! I was thinking maybe a screwdriver Timmy? Conker cheaters eh, there's a theme developing in these comments. It sounds rotten to the core this world of conkers! Now where's my vinegar!
DeleteWe used a bradawl to make the hole. And, yes, soaking in vinegar was cheating.
ReplyDeleteA bradawl, yes! That's a word I haven't heard for ages Khusru. I never soaked my chestnuts. Far too clever for me that.
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