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World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

(www.theguardian.com)
424 points notamy | 7 comments | 15 Oct 24 03:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.524s | source | bottom
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noobermin ◴[15 Oct 24 09:38 UTC] No.41846756[source]▶
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misja111 ◴[15 Oct 24 09:45 UTC] No.41846797[source]▶
I love how your comment is assuming that anybody here who's not British must be American. I'm Dutch and had never heard of conker before either.
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Super_Jambo ◴[15 Oct 24 09:49 UTC] No.41846822[source]▶
I think the assumption is more that someone who's offended that the Guardian didn't explain a mainstay British playground game to their readers...

Is probably from the USA.

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datavirtue ◴[15 Oct 24 10:40 UTC] No.41847144[source]▶
Mainstay? First I'm hearing of it. I thought it was an onion article at first. It's really hard to tell when British people are serious sometimes. "Conker King"...like, WTH?
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1. mattmanser ◴[15 Oct 24 10:53 UTC] No.41847211[source]▶
I honestly can't believe you're British and have never heard of conkers.

It is a part of our culture, like pubs, pooh sticks, morriss dancing or cheese rolling.

It would be a totally valid citizenship question.

Maybe you're a city child?

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2. bombcar ◴[15 Oct 24 11:30 UTC] No.41847408[source]▶
I’m not even British but I’ve read enough novels to know of those things.
3. whalesalad ◴[15 Oct 24 11:54 UTC] No.41847574[source]▶
What is a pooh stick and is it related to a poop knife
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4. ChoHag ◴[15 Oct 24 12:05 UTC] No.41847663[source]▶
We have conkers in London.
5. louthy ◴[15 Oct 24 12:06 UTC] No.41847676[source]▶
You and your friends get a stick each, together you drop it off a bridge over a stream (upstream side), then you run to the other side of the bridge, whichever stick appears first is the winner.
6. sandworm101 ◴[15 Oct 24 12:13 UTC] No.41847736[source]▶
Morriss dancing isnt a real thing. It is just something silly invented by the BBC as a self-deprecating joke, like Canadians street vendors selling fried beaver tails.
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7. mattmanser ◴[15 Oct 24 21:35 UTC] No.41853359[source]▶
I've been to this, it's great:

https://strawbear.org.uk/

It's a load of different morriss dancing troops dancing around the town with a parade with the lot of them. And there are a lot. Bloody freezing some years though!

Also, in the same vein, this weekend I think there's the annual Sea Shanty festival in my home town.

https://harwichshantyfestival.co.uk/

The videos are quite bad at conveying how great some of the groups are, especially sitting in a smallish pub with a pint listening to some amazing singers do sea shanties. Quite magical.