Text 1969, 92 rader
Skriven 2007-07-31 14:20:30 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
   Kommentar till text 1952 av Ardith Hinton (1:153/716.0)
Ärende: Flying Saucer Shooting
==============================

30 Jul 07 23:10, Ardith Hinton wrote to Roy Witt:

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

And I found the same references of Old Norse, as you did. Since the early
English were more into shotgun hunting than the nords, I tend to think the
reference to speedy is closer to reality.


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

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

Yes, that's very true. Although I think you'll find in the small print
in that reference, it was spitting through the front teeth that, that word
described.

 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.


 AH>           I gather the effect of the traps is to make the movement of
 AH> the clay pigeon somewhat unpredictable, thus duplicating the flight
 AH> of a real bird?

                                                              x
Imagine 2 arcs between two unequally tall buildings.                  |
                                                     |                |
                                                     |1       8      7|
                                                        2          6
                                                           3     5
                                                              4

A target, called a Clay Pidgeon is tossed into the air by a mechanical
arm, one from the left 'low' house position and one from the right 'high'
house position. Shooting from positions 1 thru 8, you can sort of get an
idea what the shooting is like.

The game (for lack of a better description), starts out at #1, with the
shooter getting a target from both houses, left house first, and a split
second later from the high house. This is refered to as 'doubles'. The
timing is such that I've shot both birds with one shot as they cross paths
in mid air.

Imagine shooting from each position in numeric order. You're allowed 25
shots, which is one box of ammo.

 AH>  In any case... although I know very little about the
 AH> sport... I understand that a moving target may be difficult to hit,
 AH> especially if it's moving quickly.  And the eleven-year-old in
 AH> Alexander's story probably understood as much.  So he'd be favourably
 AH> impressed by a person with such a great degree of skill....  :-)

As was I when I first started the sport. A perfect score for one
game/session is 25 and I've seen shooters who never seem to miss a shot.
Around here in Texas, you can continue shooting for as long as you want,
as the game has become computerized. All you need to remember is to bring
plenty of shells.

                R\%/itt


"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity! Lick it once and you'll suck
forever..."

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