thumb|upright=1.2|A game of "Aunt Sally". Drawing from the 1911 edition of Whiteley's General Catalogue.

Aunt Sally is a traditional English game usually played in pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or battens at a ball, known as a 'dolly', balanced on top of a stick; traditionally, a model of an old woman's head was sometimes used. Leagues of pub teams still play the game, throughout the spring and summer months, mainly in Oxfordshire and some bordering counties. In France, the game is called jeu de massacre ("game of carnage").

The term Aunt Sally is also used for an argument or idea that is easily refutable and set up to invite criticism, equivalent to "straw man."

Etymology

It was suggested by James Redding Ware that the term was based on a blackface doll, itself inspired by a low-life character named "Black Sal," which appeared in an 1821 novel entitled Life in London by Pierce Egan, a contemporary of Charles Dickens. Whoever killed it won the game and took home the chicken. Another theory is that in Port Meadow in Oxfordshire, at the time of the English Civil War, the Cavaliers (soldiers loyal to King Charles I) were bored and formed a game with sticks and makeshift materials similar to the game as understood today.

Today, the game of Aunt Sally is still played as a pub game in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.

On 24 August 2019, the first world championship for Aunt Sally pairs was held in the Bull, Launton, Oxfordshire, and was won by the pub team from The Bell, Bicester.

Darren Moore and Billy Craig were the winners. Runners-up were Aimee Sheehan and Christopher Hulme.

Modern rules

The game bears some resemblance to a coconut shy or skittles but with teams. Each team consists of eight players or five players depending on the local league.

The ball is on a short plinth about 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150 mm) high by 3 inches (75 mm) diameter, known as the "dolly", which is placed on a dog-legged metal spike (the swivel) about 30 to 40 inches (750 mm to 1000 mm) high. Players throw sticks or short battens, about 18 by 2 inches (450 x 50 mm) at the dolly, from ten yards away, trying to knock it off without hitting the spike. Successfully hitting the dolly off is known as a "doll"; however, if the spike is hit first, then the score does not count and is called an "iron".

  • E. Nesbit, in Chapter VIII of the children's book Five Children and It (1902), describes a country fair: "There were some swings, and a hooting-tooting blaring merry-go-round, and a shooting-gallery and Aunt Sallies".

See also

  • African dodger, a carnival game in the United States with a live person as the target
  • British folk sports
  • PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally), the order of mathematical operations
  • Scapegoat
  • Straw man
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain, in which Aunt Sally is a character who attempts to adopt and "sivilize" Huck
  • Whipping boy

References

  • Aunt Sally – The Online Guide
  • The Aunt Sally Pitch
  • British Pathé video 1963 Aunt Sally at the Three Pigeons pub in Drayton St. Leonard
  • Aunt Sally and Uncle Sam
  • Oxford & District Aunt Sally Association
  • Abingdon & District Aunt Sally Association
  • Banbury Aunt Sally League
  • Bampton Aunt Sally Association
  • Bicester & District Aunt Sally League
  • Carterton Invitation Aunt Sally League
  • Chipping Norton Aunt Sally League
  • Wychwood Aunt Sally League
  • AuntSallyTV (YouTube)