The Pamphleteer |
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During colonial times in America, if you wanted to convince or inform people about some issue that you considered important, you went to the local printer and got some pamphlets printed. You then handed them out, read them to anybody that was interested, nailed them to the town bulletin board, or the nearest tree.
The first amendment was specifically written to protect this type of activity and the writers or "pamphleteers".
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Monday, June 06, 2005
* * * BrainEmail Daily Triva * * * ================================== (From John Babina.To JOIN the BrainETrivia list send a message to: trivia-subscribe@brainemail.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------- What is the origin of the phrase stool pigeon? Clay Pigeon? Please Scroll down! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Live pigeons were used to attract the now extinct Passenger Pigeons. These decoy pigeons had their eyes sewn closed and were placed on poles or perches called “stools”. Thus they became known as stool pigeons. The term was transferred to people who lured criminals into police traps. [Passenger Pigeon lived in huge flocks and were very easy to harvest. As a result, their numbers were vastly reduced and they ultimately went into extinction. Apparently, the Passenger Pigeon needed to have overwhelming numbers in their colonies to overcome their natural predators. Even though tens of thousands were left over after millions were hunted, the remainder could not survive. The last Passenger Pigeon named Martha died in 1914.] In the 1700s, the sport of trapshooting used live pigeons released from “traps”. Later, as pigeons became scarce, artificial birds were created to simulate the pigeons. These fake birds included glass balls filled with feathers and iron birds on rods. Disk-shaped clay pigeons were developed around 1870. The “clay” pigeon can also be made from limestone & pitch. The term clay pigeon can also be used for someone who is an “easy mark”. Bonus question: Where did the term skeet shooting come from? The term skeet is derived from the Scandinavian word for “shoot”. It was submitted in a 1926 contest to name the game of shooting clay pigeons. The winner was Gertrude Hurlbutt of Dayton, Montana and she got $100. -------------------------------------------------------------------- . |