I've seen a reference (and naturally didn't make a note of where I found 
it...) of soldiers during the Civil War playing marbles.  That correlates 
well with "male" but not so well with "little." It could also correlate 
with doing ANYTHING to relieve the boredom of days in camp or on the march.

RCL

At 10/31/2005 01:56 PM, you wrote:
>Interesting discussion. Now for some trouble. Would you agree that 
>GENERALLY speaking:
>
>                 Marbles = little boys
>                 "Jacks" =  little girls
>
>We have found both recently and have had a number of field discussions 
>(older peoples' memories) on this question.
>
>                                                         R.L. Schuyler
>
>P.S. In the late 1940s and 1950s we had marbles and although I had some I 
>never played the game. I do not remember
>my friends "playing marbles" as an every day event. Also remember flipping 
>bottle caps but this was also not that common. What I do remember doing 
>was taking the cork liners out of all bottle caps - why ??? probably a 
>mental aberration. It just had to be done.
>
>At 04:36 PM 10/31/2005, you wrote:
>>Tim
>>
>>No tiddlywinks in excavations but the plastic pastel blue and red ones seem
>>to form one of the major classes of items I see when I'm crawling around
>>below floors of extant houses.  They were the perfect function and form for
>>locating and sliding down any cracks in the house.
>>
>>While on obscure uses of crown bottle caps, is there a non-Australian
>>version of the lagerphone?  This is a stick [broomhandle size] covered with
>>nailed on crown caps and bounced up and down for a particularly gormless
>>tinkling sound that is much loved by bush bands.  It is as stereotypical as
>>a hat with corks on it [is there no end to Australians' cleverness with
>>bottle closures!].  Do lagerphones exist in other countries with other
>>names?
>>
>>Denis
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Tim Thompson" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 8:15 AM
>>Subject: Re: Crown Caps
>>
>>
>> > Ron,
>> >
>> > seems to me Little Rascals films are the equivalent of Noel Hume
>> > consulting Dutch genre paintings. Marbles were dying out in North Florida
>> > in the late fifties, and I don't remember flicking bottle caps, but it
>> > does  sound a bit like Tiddley Winks, the passion of prawns a couple of
>> > generations previously. Anybody ever found Tiddley Winks in an excavation?
>> >
>> > Tim T.
>> > reluctant gamester
>> >
>> >
>
>Robert L. Schuyler
>University of Pennsylvania Museum
>3260 South Street
>Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324
>
>Tel: (215) 898-6965
>Fax: (215) 898-0657
>[log in to unmask]