Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf & old games

Subject: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning of?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 11:41 PM

I am putting my maternal grandmother's memoirs into my computer. As I do so, I keep making notes of stuff to research. This is one of the first items. I can *guess* sort of what it means, but I'd love to know if any Mudcatters have heard and/or know anything about its meaning/origin.

She was about 12 years old when a horse when took off with her. She was holding on for dear life when a neighbor managed to rescue her. The horse was an old plodder which would NOT gallop, until that day, so the next day she was plenty stiff and sore, saying that "I had learned the meaning of the phrase 'eating off the clock shelf.'" This was in the 1880's in Colorado.

What say you, Mudcatters?

Thanks!

kat

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning of?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 11:47 PM

G'day kat,

I would presume it meant being so sore that she could not sit down - even to eat.

I think I've heard this sense in times past ... but it probably died out with the arrival of overstuffed furniture and scatter cushions.

regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 11:51 PM

Ah! THAT makes sense, Bob, much more than I could make of it. Thanks!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning of?
From: M.Ted
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 12:23 AM

The main meaning, was that you'd get your behind paddled til you couldn't sit. As in, "If you don't stop that right now, you'll be eating of the clock shelf!"

It's use died out as spanking and paddling became politically incorrect, and the practice was left to the brutish and illiterate--

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning
From: open mike
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 03:14 AM

well i wondered if it might mean "having a limited time left on this earth? or grabbing a quick bite to eat without taking the time to sit.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning of?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 03:27 AM

No, it just means having such a sore bum you can't sit down.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning of?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 06:29 AM

In UK ,'Clock Shelf' would be 'mantlepiece - The shelf area above a fireplace !

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf - meaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 11:35 AM

Thanks, folks. Leadfingers, that was what I was thinking, too. The clock was always on the mantel from what I remember. Poor grandma didn't say her bum was sore, too *proper* to mention that, but from the ride she described, it must have been quite sore! At least it wasn't from a paddling.:-)

Okay, so how about some games she mentions, which I've never heard of:

When my ship comes in?
Bird, beast or fish?
Spin the platter (like spin the bottle?)

Card games:

Flinch
Rook

Also, she seems to have really liked crokonole(sic) which I did find online as "crokinole." Anyone play it? Sounds a lot like tiddley winks.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf & old gam
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 12:00 PM

Flinch is a card game that is still around. It requires a custom deck; we had a Parker Brothers copy when I was young (like in the late 60s).

Rook was another one. I don't remember playing it, but somehow the name rang a bell. Maybe my father used to play it.

Both got lots of Google hits.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf & old games
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 12:11 PM

The hoary folk joke was the response to "Can you give me a sentence using the word fundamental?

I was bad, and I got such a spanking that I had to eat fundamental(from the mantle, for those who have problems with dialect)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Eating off the clock shelf & old games
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 12:25 PM

Rook was also called "Christian Poker" my dad played it a lot at Wheaton College, back in his fundamentalist youth (he's since reformed). The students had to sign a pledge not to smoke, drink, go to the theater and play cards. Rook, it seemed, didn't count. I haven't played it in years, but it was a fun card game.

We also had a flinch deck when I was growing up, but I can't remember the rules anymore.