Things that time forgot.

[french frank]

Marbles.

Yes - the major competitive sport at my primary school. There were 'alleys' - including blood alleys - and small dingy clay ones.

I discover that 'alley' is possibly derived from 'alabaster', just as 'marbles' were made of marble.

[Daniel]

Yes - the major competitive sport at my primary school. There were 'alleys' - including blood alleys - and small dingy clay ones.

I discover that 'alley' is possibly derived from 'alabaster', just as 'marbles' were made of marble.

We didn't have clay ones as far as I remember. The word we used (slightly ungainly I always thought) for a large marble worth four small ones was a 'toller'. As I was typing, the physical aspect of playing marbles was coming back to me in a cloud of redolence .. the grazed index fingers, the holes in mud, or in tarmac, or hollows in playgrounds, the sense of loss/delight, or panic as the dwindling light told you, you were supposed to have been back home an hour earlier ... (I'll get me jumpers and goalposts).

Indeed - and most important thing about marbles is to try not to lose any as age creeps up on one...

Those were me 'figurative ones' were, ah.

[Lat-Literal]

Yes - the major competitive sport at my primary school. There were 'alleys' - including blood alleys - and small dingy clay ones.

I discover that 'alley' is possibly derived from 'alabaster', just as 'marbles' were made of marble.

Ditto.

We played marbles on the pavement and on the actual road, stepping aside when a car appeared. Some were lost down drains. The blood alleys were more prized than the glass ones with coloured inners for being less common and older. Most were partially red as the name suggests - we may have also called them peaches and cream - and a few were partially blue-green. The latter were just known as alleys. There were also plain glass ones - rare - which we called glass alleys, wrongly given what you've said about derivation.

[jean]

I discover that 'alley' is possibly derived from 'alabaster', just as 'marbles' were made of marble.

We said 'ollies' - or is that a completely different word?

I've no idea if there's any truth in this:

Marbles became very popular during the Victorian age. At that time many children from poorer families could not afford to buy glass marbles. So, many poorer children used salvaged metal ball bearings, which had become increasingly available because of industrialisation. These ball bearings were referred to by many children as 'Ballies' or "Bollies.' I assume that the letter 'B' was simply dropped, for differentiation purposes, when the name was extended to include glass marbles.

[P. G. Tipps]

Ditto.

We played marbles on the pavement and on the actual road, stepping aside when a car appeared. Some were lost down drains. The blood alleys were more prized than the glass ones with coloured inners for being less common and older. Most were partially red as the name suggests - we may have also called them peaches and cream - and a few were partially blue-green. The latter were just known as alleys. There were also plain glass ones - rare - which we called glass alleys, wrongly given what you've said about derivation.

Yes I remember those marbles' games in the Glasgow suburb of my youth ... basically a game for the young gentlemen and ladies of the area to discover which marble could crack open all the others. A fine preparation for the realities of adult life!

However, the most popular pastime for informed youth of the day was undoubtedly 'Kick The Can', on the nearest available street, even a main road. Mind you a ' main road' in those days was more like a modern country lane.

I do not remember any of the rules but, my goodness, it wasn't half fun ...

[ahinton]

Yes I remember those marbles' games in the Glasgow suburb of my youth ... basically a game for the young gentlemen and ladies of the area to discover which marble could crack open all the others.

But you played it as well!

A fine preparation for the realities of adult life!

If a fundamental pat of adult life is to crack people open, I suppose that it might have been...

However, the most popular pastime for informed youth of the day was undoubtedly 'Kick The Can', on the nearest available street, even a main road.

And I take it that the ladies and gentlemen of Glasgow played this, too; I trust that they were appropriately attired to do so at all times.

I do not remember any of the rules

How times have changed!

but, my goodness, it wasn't half fun ...

Of what did the other 50% not consist?

[Lat-Literal]

Yes I remember those marbles' games in the Glasgow suburb of my youth ... basically a game for the young gentlemen and ladies of the area to discover which marble could crack open all the others. A fine preparation for the realities of adult life!

Surely that was conkers? Those with vinegar won the day!

I have fond memories of the power cuts in the 1970s. Wearing coats in the daytime at junior school. Coming home to find that, although the walk had only taken five minutes, the heating and lighting etc had only just gone off there, what with it being on a different grid. The romance of candles. BBC radio providing a regular grid forecast along with the weather and shipping. Lights in buildings on the third grid across the valley and beyond the trees a-twinkle like Christmas stars. Neighbours with electric cookers darting down dark close with plates in hand and into the homes of ones with gas ovens. In four hour spells, a key part of my "WW2 Experience". I genuinely wouldn't have missed it for the world.

[french frank]

We didn't have clay ones as far as I remember.

Our clay ones were like these:



a blood alley:



There were big ones - like gobstoppers - but I can't remember if we called them anything special.

[Lat-Literal]

Our clay ones were like these:



a blood alley:



There were big ones - like gobstoppers - but I can't remember if we called them anything special.

Yes - I recognise that as a blood alley.

[mangerton]

I was living in the (Scottish) borders during my marble playing years - well over fifty years ago now. I can't remember all the jargon, but we called them "nucks" -more probably "knucks", although the word was never written. We played on drain covers, of which there were many in the playground, but we called them "branders".

I kept my marbles in a drawstring bag made by my mother. Glass marbles came in various sizes, and I also had a steel ball bearing or two. But whence did they come, and whither did they go?

Yes, I've definitely lost my marbles - but any of my friends will tell you that.

[P. G. Tipps]

Surely that was conkers? Those with vinegar won the day! .

Oh yes, I remember conkers all right, suitably holed and tied to a piece of string!

However, I have distinct memories of many smashed marbles as well, though I suppose any rules of the game depended on how 'gentlemanly' and 'ladylike' the participants happened to be ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Surely that was conkers? Those with vinegar won the day!

Nowadays it's regarded as cheating to use vinegar, wood-hardener, etc. The biggest difference though is that participants may be expected to wear goggles - health & safety.

[mangerton]

The biggest difference though is that participants may be expected to wear goggles - health & safety.

What? The mind goggles.

Sorry, that should read "boggles".

[ahinton]

However, I have distinct memories of many smashed marbles as well, though I suppose any rules of the game depended on how 'gentlemanly' and 'ladylike' the participants happened to be

I cannot imagine that being smashed when playing would have been regarded as "gentlemanly" or "ladylike" but, since the only part of my youth that I spent in Glasgow was at its eye infirmary (which it seems time has yet to forget), I am in no position to comment about Celtic and Rangers in those days, let alone the city's premier league marble players (who were presumably not in those days governed by the Fédération Internationale de Billes Association).

Oh, you mean actual smashed marbles? Well, it would have served the players right for playing with them on pool tables with cues!

[Lat-Literal]

Oh yes, I remember conkers all right, suitably holed and tied to a piece of string!

However, I have distinct memories of many smashed marbles as well, though I suppose any rules of the game depended on how 'gentlemanly' and 'ladylike' the participants happened to be ...

Nowadays it's regarded as cheating to use vinegar, wood-hardener, etc. The biggest difference though is that participants may be expected to wear goggles - health & safety.

Yes indeed.

I like to think my standards were pretty high.

Only bought chewing gum for the football cards. Never chewed the stuff. Morally objected to newt catching. That sort of thing.