Little Whinging & the Knobbly Stick

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 53736

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, GulPlum <hp at p...> wrote:
> At 22:04 13/03/03 , Anne wrote:
> 
> >How is the name of this town supposed to be pronounced, and 
> >does it mean something?? Being American (or perhaps being 
> >Midwestern) I've been pronouncing it Little Wing-ing 
> 
> Following on rapidly from French pronunciation, to English. :-)
> 
> Little WINJ-ing. Derived from "whinge", ...edited...
>
> 

bboy_mn:

Out of curiousity, is "whinge" a contemporary word? Would I find it in
the Oxford Dictionary? Doesn't matter; just curious.

Of course, being from the midwest, I was looking forward to winging my
way over the ocean to visit Little Whinging (winging). Little Win-Jing
sound like it should be a small village just a few miles west of
Beijing (Peking).
- - - - - -

> And on the issue of uniforms, Anne asked:
> 
> >[...] not to mention the stick. Is this supposed to be like a
cricket bat??
> 
> I've never seen it as such. I've always imagined it to be pretty
> much like it was in the TMTSNBN: about a foot long, with a metal 
> "knob" on one end.

bboy_mn:

Can't remember what the movie stick looked like, but if it was
actually a stick with a knob, it would be called a knobbed stick, not
a knobbly stick which implies many knobs.

I always assume that it was like a (somewhat) straight cane or walking
stick, however, instead of being made from a straight clean piece of
wood from the core of a tree, it was made from a branch, and of course
that branch would have smaller branches coming off of it. The branch
is stripped down, sanded and polished, then finished with a hard
lacquer and possibly a small metal tip where it touches the ground to
keep it end from wearing out. 

The main knob or handle would be the point where the branch attached
to the main tree trunk, which would then be rough rounded and
polished. The 'knobblies' would be where the minor branches attached
to the main branch (walking stick). The 'branch' canes or walking
sticks are usually a little crooked since your are stuck with the
natural shape of the tree branch. 

This type of walking stick is actually very common. They are very
smoothly finished but not so much in a refined way. The idea is for it
 to keep the natural character of the tree branch while still having a
smooth highly polished finish. I guess you might call it a rustic look.

I may not know my whinging from my winging, but I've seen a knobbly
stick to two in my day.

Knobbly Sticks and Where to Find Them-

http://www.bjmarketers.com/canes.htm

http://mypage.direct.ca/l/laninga/

The Legendary Irish Blackthorn

http://www.walkingsticks.uk.com/blackthornsirish_stand.html

Just a thought.

bboy_mn