Old Sayings,Anecdotes,Related to Wildlife

[richnfamous]

Originally Posted by k4t3

Loripo, n'ere cast a clout...always brought up to believe this was clothes stay on till the may blossom out, not the month gone..but thats Yorkshire n may b different in other regions

It's about archery practice, which all men were required to do. The 'clout' is a flag or cloth target which they'd shoot at in order to learn different ranges.

People think it's about taking yer togs off but that's not right

[richnfamous]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

A woman, a dog, and a Walnut tree, The more you beat them the better they be

If you beat a walnut tree, it bruises the cambium and produces the varied colours in the wood so there's a factual basis. Don't do it with dogs and women, though, cos they bite

How about this - a sowing rhyme about seeds:

"One for the rook
One for the crow
One to die
And one to grow"

[posie]

Yes I thought clout was togs, so if it's the archery do-dah, what is the significance of not casting it til'.... Is that when they started the Archery for the summer, I did not know that it is a seasonal sport. This thread is very educational, or should I say 'informative'...

[loripo]

So does that mean they would go back to their jobs in farming once the May had blossomed? I know all the men had to be able to bear arms when called upon, but wasn't sure if that meant year round practice or seasonal, so as not to interfere with planting and harvests

[richnfamous]

Originally Posted by loripo

So does that mean they would go back to their jobs in farming once the May had blossomed? I know all the men had to be able to bear arms when called upon, but wasn't sure if that meant year round practice or seasonal, so as not to interfere with planting and harvests

I'm guessing it's so they could get the sowing done. I'm pretty sure that it's to do with archery, though.

[david156]

This archery bit is interesting. We've a car park near here called the buttlands and this was where there archery practice was held. I always thought clout ment clothes but you live and learn. You can learn a lot on this old website

[richnfamous]

Originally Posted by posie

Yes I thought clout was togs, so if it's the archery do-dah, what is the significance of not casting it til'.... Is that when they started the Archery for the summer, I did not know that it is a seasonal sport. This thread is very educational, or should I say 'informative'...

I think the phrase you're looking for is "we're still confused, but at a higher level"

[david156]

Hi all.
Might not have anything to do with archery. Just found this on the internet

"Origin

'Ne'er cast a clout till May be out' is an English proverb. The earliest citation is this version of the rhyme from Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732, although it probably existed in word-of-mouth form well before that:

"Leave not off a Clout Till May be out.

Meaning

Let's look first at the 'cast a clout' part. The word 'clout', although archaic, is straightforward. Since at least the early 15th century 'clout' has been used variously to mean 'a blow to the head', 'a clod of earth or (clotted) cream' or 'a fragment of cloth, or clothing'. It is the last of these that is meant in 'cast a clout'. This was spelled variously spelled as clowt, clowte, cloot, clute. Here's an early example, from the Early English Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, circa 1485:

"He had not left an holle clowt, Wherwith to hyde hys body abowte."

So, 'ne'er cast a clout...' simply means 'never discard your [warm winter] clothing...'.

The 'till May be out' part is where the doubt lies. On the face of it this means 'until the month of May is ended'.

There is another interpretation. In England, in May, you can't miss the Hawthorn. It is an extremely common tree in the English countryside, especially in hedges. Hawthorns are virtually synonymous with hedges. As many as 200,000 miles of hawthorn hedge were planted in the Parliamentary Enclosure period, between 1750 and 1850. The name 'Haw' derives from 'hage', the Old English for 'hedge'.

The tree gives its beautiful display of flowers in late April/early May. It is known as the May Tree and the blossom itself is called May. Using that allusion, 'till May is out' could mean, 'until the hawthorn is out [in bloom]'. "

David

[richnfamous]

Originally Posted by david156

This archery bit is interesting. We've a car park near here called the buttlands and this was where there archery practice was held. I always thought clout ment clothes but you live and learn. You can learn a lot on this old website

Types of Archery: Field and Clout Archery

Clout archery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

About Clout Archery

There's a field near Stadhampton called 'The Clouts' which was about 400 yds long, and legend has it was used for archery in the old days.

[loripo]

I found this...
The English Archery Law of the 13th century ensured that English men would be come experts with the bow and arrow. In 1252 the 'Assize of Arms' ensured that all Englishmen were ordered, by law, that every man between the age of 15 to 60 years old should equip themselves with a bow and arrows. The Plantagenet King Edward III took this further and decreed the Archery Law in 1363 which commanded the obligatory practice of archery on Sundays and holidays! The Archery Law "forbade, on pain of death, all sport that took up time better spent on war training especially archery practise". King Henry I later proclaimed that an archer would be absolved of murder, if he killed a man during archery practise
I wonder if that law has ever been revoked