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What the Fuck is Pushpin? I mean, really!

#1 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 26 July 2004 - 10:01 AM

Seriously guys, let us put our thinking caps on and figure this one out. What the fuck is pushpin? Some sources say it is a childrens game played with pins. If so, what are the rules? Why have they vanished from history? We need answers!
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#2 User is offline   Eckard Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 02:14 PM

Indeed,
that is exactly the question that brought me here. It all began with a quote from "The Rationale of Reward" by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
/quote/
Prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry. If the game of push-pin furnish more pleasure, it is more valuable than either. Everybody can play at push-pin: poetry and music are relished only by a few. The game of push-pin is always innocent: it were well could the same be always asserted of poetry.
/unquote/

Now, translating this into German would be easy enough, if only it were not for those darned push-pins. Direct translation would be "Reisszwecke" (thumbtack) but that is no game children play. Pin in German may be "Nadel" (which equals "needle") or it may be "Kegel" which is the target in bowling.

I have no knowledge of a game employing needles, nor would this game be innocent. It might reach a painful and bloody ending.

Bowling, however, might be a game in connection with pins. If only it wasn't for the "push-".

So if anyone could enlighten my friends and me in a German forum, where we have discussed this all day ....

Regards
Eckard
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#3 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 03 June 2005 - 07:43 AM

Interestingly enough, my Ethics Prof. may have answered the question for both of us. He says pushpin is merely a game of Jacks. You know, played with a ball and those metal things? Im not exactly sure why it might have been called pushpin or whether hes actually right, but there it is.
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#4 User is offline   Eckard Icon

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Posted 03 June 2005 - 10:43 AM

Hi, Rory,
thanks for heeding my question.
However, I bear grave doubts, whether the Game of Jacks is the real McCoy.
Of course I had to look it up (even childrens games vary from country to country and have a special language sometimes not covered by dictionaries) and the rules seem to be described here: [http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/jacks_and_marbles_etc/jacks.htm]

But jacks - be it coins or washers or stones - are in no way pins.

So carrying my search further and further I came across the "ANNALS of PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA, VOL. II Chapter 42 FINAL APPENDIX of the YEAR 1856. NOTES and REFLECTIONS on SOCIAL CHANGES and PROGRESS IN GENERAL." which yielded the following :
/quote/
This subject brings to mind their state in a former age, when
they (needles) were all imported and cost more than now. It was a consideration to
save them all by picking them up when seen. This was a peculiar operation
of the boys -- Two special reasons concurred with them : they were their
capital for the play of the game of push pin
, and for their surplus they
could get pennies, at home. It was a common sight to see boys with a line of
pins stuck in their sleeve cuffs. Men too, always had a place for some,
stuck in a line at the head of the lapels of their coats.
/unquote/ (Accentuation by me)

Now this leaves room for one conclusion only: the game of pushpins was played with pins (needles).

Stubborn as I am when on a trail, I will continue my investigations smile.gif

Thank you for bearing with me!
Regards
Eckard
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#5 User is offline   Eckard Icon

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Posted 03 June 2005 - 11:28 AM

Hi, Rory,
me again, but this time with a solution to our small riddle.

To put it in a nutshell:
A game with pins on the crown of a hat. Two or more may play.
Each lays on a pin,then with the hand they strike the side of the hat time
about, and whoever makes the pins by a stroke cross each other, lifts those
so crossed.
I found this here: [URL=http://www.mail-archive.com/lace-chat@arachne.com/msg05679.html] Lace-chat Archive

Thanks again for bearing with me smile.gif
Regards
Eckard
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#6 User is offline   Rory Icon

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  • Interests:Well, I enjoy a fine bottle of scotch sometimes. I am also interested in women. I'm not a homosexual, if that is what you are implying. <br><br>I also enjoy skateboarding, riding the cerf, killing bugbears, and Stratego. <br><br>I am a devote Catholic (in case you couldn't tell! lol). <br><br>Other than that, I am just a normal guy. I believe Nixon got it right the first time, that we should live in a society with an elaborate caste system, and that the only thing better than looking like a million bucks is Being a million bucks... Literally!

Posted 03 June 2005 - 12:33 PM

QUOTE (Eckard @ Jun 3 2005, 11:28 AM)
Hi, Rory,
me again, but  this time with a solution to our small riddle.

To put it in a nutshell:
A game with pins on the crown of a hat.  Two or more may play.
Each lays on a pin,then with the hand they strike the side of the hat time
about, and whoever makes the pins by a stroke cross each other, lifts those
so crossed.
I found this here:  [URL=http://www.mail-archive.com/lace-chat@arachne.com/msg05679.html] Lace-chat Archive

Thanks again for bearing with me smile.gif
Regards
Eckard


Well played, sir.
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