Marble Vocabulary From The Past & From Other Countries

[Steph 0]

I've started a thread on this before, but in that other thread I had a long list of marble names, without dates or context. Going to start again and keep better track of sources.

1918, The Judge

(link)

New list to add to:

alleys, bloodies, bullseyes, crokers, Englishies, glassies,

halfies, houses, mibbs, miggs, milkies, peewees, pimples,

pures, reallies, steelies

[Steph 0]

Englishies?

[Steph 0]

No idea on what Englishies might be?

From 1960, "tolley", the name for the shooter.

This page says the name of the game played at Tinsley Green is Ring Taw.

Current list: alleys, bloodies, bullseyes, crokers, Englishies, glassies,

halfies, houses, mibbs, miggs, milkies, peewees, pimples,

pures, reallies, steelies, tolley

[marboman 0]

I finally got around to posting these pics from a magazine I got last summer.There are some interesting names that seem new to me.

[Steph 0]

Cool. Some new ones to me there too.

I'll add them to the list.

1971

aggies, allies, mibs, migs, clayies, kimmies, immies, Chinees, crockies, pot-eyes, Chinas, bolders, blockbusters, peewee's, peedabs, doughies, doughie, blockbuster octopus, cloudies, clearies, flinties, ringers, shooters, red moonstone?, blue candy stripes?, steelies, glassies, miggle, crockie, aggie, robin's eggs, red eyes, blackies (so many names, I possibly missed some)

"red eyes" are described as rare and transparent

"blackies" are described as "as dark as nighttime in a tunnel"

Foreign terminology: gudes (Brazil), Torrah (Africa), bowls (England), bolitas (South America), "kicking the marbles" (China)

[marboman 0]

The rest of the article. Two words jump out at me, exotic and profit!

Magnetic steelies?

[Steph 0]

That's some interesting information. Surprised by how closely a 1971 article meshes with we know now. (Not an exact match but still a modern-sounding rendition.)

The two words which stand out to me are "blockbuster octopus". What a name!

[Steph 0]

A 1938 letter mentioned a "root beer cleary" and a "3 line cleary". I don't know if I got a copy of the letter. (I may only have saved the autograph on the letter -- the autograph was from Berry Pink.) But these two marbles were being sold with it. There was question about whether the marbles actually came with the letter. But they fit the descriptions.

[Steph 0]

1863, The Sock Stories, p. 37

(link)

chaney alleys, stony alleys, glass agates, middles

[Steph 0]

Current combined list:

aggie, aggies, allies, alleys, blackies, blockbuster octopus, blockbusters, bloodies, blue candy stripes?, bolders, bullseyes, chaney alleys, Chinas, Chinees, clayies, clearies, cloudies, crockie, crockies, crokers, doughie, doughies, Englishies, flinties, glass agates, glassies, halfies, houses, kimmies, immies, mibbs, mibs, middles, miggle, miggs, migs, milkies, peedabs, peewee's, peewees, pimples, pot-eyes, pures, reallies, red eyes, red moonstone?, ringers, robin's eggs, root beer cleary, shooters, steelies, stony alleys, 3 line cleary, tolley

-- including all the spelling variants and singulars and plurals even if that may seem silly -- just in case

-- the two question marks so far are because I wasn't sure whether the color was part of the name or just a description

-- some names may not represent what we use the words for now -- for example "blackies" may be different from Vitro's version

Current foreign terminology: gudes (Brazil), Torrah (Africa), bowls (England), bolitas (South America), "kicking the marbles" (China)

[ann 0]

I have no idea where it came from, but the word we used to describe boulders when I was a kid was "klogknocker." Not that I ever saw it written. Clogknocker? Who knows. But in addition to the predominantly English & German settlers there were a fair number of Dutch in the area (eastern North Carolina). Somehow I've made that association.

[Steph 0]

good to know!

[Steph 0]

From Recreation, Volume 22, pp 315, 316, April 1905

Includes references to names from the 1840's.

Also tells a game to play with large marbles

(link)

potashes, commons, nickers, white alley, man, men, shooters, chinee, agate, cornelian, glass agate, Tom, Tom troller, bamboozler, commies, combos, alley, blue alley, blood alley, taw, ducks, plasters, chinas, crystals, potteries, alleys, megs

Current combined list:

agate, aggie, aggies, allies, alley, alleys, bamboozler, blackies, blockbuster octopus, blockbusters, blood alley, bloodies, blue alley, blue candy stripes?, bolders, bullseyes, chaney alleys, chinas, Chinas, chinee, Chinees, clayies, clearies, cloudies, combos, commies, commons, cornelian, crockie, crockies, crokers, crystals, doughie, doughies, ducks, Englishies, flinties, glass agate, glass agates, glassies, halfies, houses, kimmies, klogknocker (sp? clogknocker?), immies, man, megs, men, mibbs, mibs, middles, miggle, miggs, migs, milkies, nickers, peedabs, peewee's, peewees, pimples, plasters, pot-eyes, potashes, potteries, pures, reallies, red eyes, red moonstone?, ringers, robin's eggs, root beer cleary, shooters, steelies, stony alleys, taw, 3 line cleary, tolley, Tom, Tom troller, white alley,

-- including all the spelling variants and singulars and plurals even if that may seem silly -- just in case
-- the two question marks so far are because I wasn't sure whether the color was part of the name or just a description
-- some names may not represent what we use the words for now -- for example "blackies" may be different from Vitro's version



Current foreign terminology: gudes (Brazil), Torrah (Africa), bowls (England), bolitas (South America), "kicking the marbles" (China)

[Steph 0]

Merps?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A683660

[skycollect 0]

Blockbuster octopus is by far the coolest on the list thus far!

[Steph 0]

(p.s., I agree with the Sky above)

Names from 1927

tiger-eyes, bowlers, agates, glassies, sugar-tops, peewees, mibs, mossies, knicks, bullseyes, plumpers, shooters

Current combined list:

agate, agates, aggie, aggies, allies, alley, alleys, bamboozler, blackies, blockbuster octopus, blockbusters, blood alley, bloodies, blue alley, blue candy stripes?, bolders, bowlers, bullseyes, chaney alleys, chinas, Chinas, chinee, Chinees, clayies, clearies, cloudies, combos, commies, commons, cornelian, crockie, crockies, crokers, crystals, doughie, doughies, ducks, Englishies, flinties, glass agate, glass agates, glassies, halfies, houses, kimmies, klogknocker (sp? clogknocker?), immies, knicks, man, megs, men, mibbs, mibs, middles, miggle, miggs, migs, milkies, mossies, nickers, peedabs, peewee's, peewees, pimples, plasters, plumpers, pot-eyes, potashes, potteries, pures, reallies, red eyes, red moonstone?, ringers, robin's eggs, root beer cleary, shooters, steelies, stony alleys, sugar-tops, taw, 3 line cleary, tiger-eyes, tolley, Tom, Tom troller, white alley,

-- including all the spelling variants and singulars and plurals even if that may seem silly -- just in case
-- the two question marks so far are because I wasn't sure whether the color was part of the name or just a description
-- some names may not represent what we use the words for now -- for example "blackies" may be different from Vitro's version



Current foreign terminology: gudes (Brazil), Torrah (Africa), bowls (England), bolitas (South America), "kicking the marbles" (China)

[kbobam 0]

Seeing so many names at once made me notice that most are very clinical-sounding.

"Sugar-Top" is the only one that might be used as an affectionate nickname for a loved-one.

("Duck" might be okay in England. I'm not sure.)

A lot of them would result in your loved-one throwing you out of the house.

[Steph 0]

I just learned that in 1975 if you collected marbles you might have a "single point candle swirl".

[Steph 0]

Hehe ... I can get to this thread easily by searching for "octopus".

1912: Gotta add the word "Jaspies" to the list. Probably some others when I'm read to pore through the Butler Bros. ad for new words. (link)

"Jaspers" isn't in the list either. Hmmmm ... I think the existence of Jaspers by 1912 is implied in the existence of the nickname "Jaspies". Wouldn't you say?

[Steph 0]

"liggies, penkas and boodies" ..... Thanks, Steve!

Hello From Tyneside, Nort-East England.

[Geordies Liggies 0]

A little more concerning terms for marbles used in the Geordie dialect, from Tyneside in NE England.

Liggies is an abbreviation of lignum vitae.

Boodies were clay marbles.

The penka was a large marble (up to 2.5 inches, used as a target).

Other terms used include marvils, muggles, alleys, parper, scudder and taws.

Blood alleys had red in the glass and snot alleys had white. A pop-alley was a pop bottle stopper used as a marble.

Source: A dictionary of North-east dialect 3rd Edition - Northumbria Press.

[Steph 0]

Thank you very much. I really love the colorful language.

[ann 0]

Liggies is an abbreviation of lignum vitae.

Wow, I wondered if that's where "liggies" came from!

Stumbled across lignum vitae back in the early 1970s when I lived for a brief but memorable time in the Keys . . . at an outdoor table eating a burger next to a fascinating bush that had small orange flowers and blue berries at the same time. Found out it was lignum vitae, a wood so dense and hard it was used for bowling balls and some rudder mechanisms for large ships. Has been a favorite of mine ever since.

So somebody must have had a few marbles of lignum vitae at some time or other?

[Geordies Liggies 0]

I have just found a video of AC/DC's Brian Johnson (a fellow Geordie) singing 'Wor Geordie's lost his liggy'.

I suspect that you will struggle to pick-up the marble references, or any of the words for that matter, as much of it is in Geordie dialect.

Enjoy!

[Steph 0]

That's fantastic! Loving it.

And I never thought I'd ever look at AC/DC and say, "Aren't they adorable?"

Found this background at Wiki while looking for lyrics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wor_Geordie's_lost_his_penka

And then found these lyrics which were closer.

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/g/geordie/geordies+lost+his+liggie_20580384.html