SPARROW. Mumbling a sparrow; a cruel sport, frequently practised at wakes and fairs: for a small premium, a booby having his hands tied behind him, has the wing of a cock- sparrow put into his mouth; with this hold, without any other assistance than the motion of his lips, he is to get the sparrow's head into his mouth; on attempting to do which, the bird defends itself surprisingly, frequently pecking the mumbler till his lips are covered with blood, and he is obliged to desist: to prevent the bird from getting away, he is fastened by a string to a button of the booby's coat.
WHIP THE COCK. A piece of sport practised at wakes, horseraces, and fairs, in Leicestershire : a cock being tied or fastened into a hat or basket, half a dozen carters blindfolded, and armed with their cart whips, are placed round it, who, after being turned thrice about, begin to whip the cock, which if any one strikes so as to make it cry out, it becomes his property ; the joke is, that, instead of whipping the cock, they flog each other heartily.
--From Grose's classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue--
A mixture of animal and human cruelty.
4 comments:
Nice, but I still like the sport where they tie an angry ferret in their trousers.
Real men wear live ferrets.
Dude, when you are talking about whipping the cock I don't think they mean that.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I do like that they use the term
"Booby."
You can never have enough booby's on your blog.
So to speak.
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