Text 1952, 48 rader
Skriven 2007-07-30 23:10:24 av Ardith Hinton (1:153/716.0)
   Kommentar till text 1927 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Flying Saucer Shooting
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Hi, Roy!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  The word comes from Old Norse according to my
AH>  dictionaries, but they agree with you as to the
AH>  meaning.  I guess it's another part of our legacy
AH>  from the Vikings, at any rate....  ;-)

RW>  According to another definition, skeet is/was
RW>  middle-English for speedy.


          Ah... thankyou!  I wasn't aware of that.  I found some references to
"skeet" = "speedy" when I did a bit more digging on the Internet, though.  :-)



RW>  Which to me would fit the sport of skeet.


          Yes, I'd say so.  Etymology is not an exact science... in some cases
at least it comes across to me as educated guesswork.  One source alleges that
the name "skeet" was chosen as the winning entry in a contest in 1926 and that
the individual who proposed it thought "skeet" means "shoot", while those of a
more cautious nature may prefer to say "[origin uncertain]".  Your explanation
makes sense to me because it recognizes the differences between this sport and
... for example... lining up soda cans on a back fence for target practice.  I
imagine the same word might also mean "shoot", however, in other applications.
Some sources tell me it can be used to refer to spitting, for example....  ;-)



RW>  The clay pigeon comes out of the two traps at a very
RW>  fast rate of speed, making it very difficult to hit
RW>  the clay even with a shotgun patterned for skeet.


          I gather the effect of the traps is to make the movement of the clay
pigeon somewhat unpredictable, thus duplicating the flight of a real bird?  In
any case... although I know very little about the sport... I understand that a
moving target may be difficult to hit, especially if it's moving quickly.  And
the eleven-year-old in Alexander's story probably understood as much.  So he'd
be favourably impressed by a person with such a great degree of skill....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)