Any number of words and phrases have entered English from various sports, from being “on deck” meaning the next in line (that’s from baseball) to loads of others. But other words have stayed within the confines of their respective games. In some cases this is probably a good thing.
Take, for example, the words “jobanowl,” “driveller,” “gazunder,” “snurd,” “morther,” and “dwile.” Those just don’t have any meaning outside of their sport — and by the way, the sport we’re talking about is “dwile flonking.” It’s a game played in English pubs, and supposedly it’s based on a painting from the 1700s depicting a children’s game of some sort.
Dwile flonking needs its own terminology because otherwise the “flonker” would just be known as the “player” or “batter,” and the tool he holds would just be called a broom handle instead of a “driveller,” which of course is its proper name. The “dwile,” which is on top of the driveller, could be called a rag soaked in beer, but that just wouldn’t be the same.
One of the two teams of 12 (or so) players forms a girter — you oughtn’t to call it a “circle” no matter what it looks like. The flonker is from the other team, stands (or dances) in the middle of the girter, dips the dwile-topped driveller into a bucket of beer, then flonks (flicks) the driveller to fling the dwile, trying to hit one of the people around the girter. If the dwile lands on the target’s head, that’s a “wanton,” and it’s good for three points. A “marther”, which is a hit on the body, counts for two, and a “ripple”, which is a leg hit, is one point. If the flonker misses twice, he’s “swadged,” has to drink a large quantity of beer from a “gazunder” (big pot) in great haste. The next player on the team then becomes the flonker. When everyone on the team has flonked, the other team is up and they go through the whole process again. The team with the most points after two “snurds” (rounds) — or possibly with the most members who can still stand up — is declared the winner by the “jobanowl,” or referee.
There’s a great deal of evidence suggesting this is a real game, and there is (or at least was) a Dwile Flonking Association in the Waveney Valley in England. How do we know the details? Because, of course, there is a Dwile Flonking rule book.
By the way, out of all the regulation Dwile Flonking terminology, only “dwile” is a non-sports-jargon word; it used to mean “dishrag” in some English dialects. It’s borrowed from the Dutch word for a mop.
