Subject: Re: No, really -- dogs

From: Jean-Joseph Cote <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 19:48:45 -0400

>Before the introduction of jacks, spits for cooking were
>turned either by dogs trained for the purpose, or by lads
>kept by the family, or hired as occasions arose, to turn
>the spit or broach.
>
>-- James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaisms and
>Provincialisms, 1855

Perhaps.  Or maybe Mr Halliwell also misunderstood this definition, and
proceeded to imaginatively elaborate on it.  It wouldn't be the only such
example in the history of dictionaries.

Jean-Joseph

---

From: Ranjit Bhatnagar <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 17:50:01 -0700 (PDT)

>From http://www.clanntartan.org/articles/hearth.html

	Meat spits could be turned by hand, or by devices called
	spit-jacks. A rope was run from the wheel on the spit to the
	jack. Some jacks were wound like clocks: "clockwork
	jacks". Other spit-jacks had fan-like paddles inside the
	chimney and the rising heat and smoke turned the
	paddies. This type was called (you guessed it) a
	smoke-jack. However, the best example I found for a
	spit-jack ran on dog power. A dog was placed in a
	hamster-style wheel near the ceiling. The dog would turn the
	wheel and ropes and pulleys would turn the spit. This was a
	common enough practice that articles were even written about
	the best breeds of dogs to use.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/glenimaalterrier.htm

	Unlike Lakeland Terriers and Fox Terriers, the Glen of Imaal
	is supposed to work silently. It may also have been used for
	dog fighting entertainment and to turn spits cooking meats
	over a fire by trotting on a treadmill for hours at a time.

I want one of those dogs!

-- ranjit

ps. have you earned YOUR Teastas Misneach?