{"id":24087,"date":"2025-06-18T14:25:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T14:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24087"},"modified":"2025-06-18T14:25:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T14:25:57","slug":"dwile-flonking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24087","title":{"rendered":"Dwile Flonking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever <strong>flonked<\/strong> a <strong>dwile<\/strong> or gathered your <strong>girt<\/strong> in a <strong>snurd<\/strong>? <\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/82364898@N05\/17368628768\/in\/photolist-ssNLdG-fACFqe-fASXwh-fASYK1-fAT1Vs-sFHbkN-2pMrCT8-2pKgqpY-6yxTkf-9Rw9aJ-2pL8jex-nzDR94-rK6seD-sFTbAM-9J2C7v-rK615z-rJTKDd-sFTiDV-sDyX5m-rJTusb-rK64ge-sFURGV-sDz3jQ-sprQqa-9J5Ajh-sDzroA-sprG2g-sprWE4-spjpE1-spkc6J-sFTV2Z-sFTNuR-rJTDf1-9J2UFT-9J5WYf-9J5wyj-9J2Wsi-9J5Eh9-9J5SXN-9J2GCV-9J2Z78-9J5Ceo-9J2QRg-9J38cR-9J2SV8-3MPX7v-3MQ1zk-3MPGiP-3MTVWf-3MU8eN\" title=\"Dwile Flonking\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7750\/17368628768_84aea27050_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" alt=\"Dwile Flonking\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dwile flonking<\/strong> is mentioned in a novel I&#8217;m currently reading, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/ B0DCGTFKR5\/omniglot-20\"><em>Fiends in High Places<\/em><\/a> by D.C. Farmer, and as I had no idea what it meant, I thought I&#8217;d find out.<\/p>\n<p>According to Wiktionary, <strong>dwile flonking<\/strong> is<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;An obscure and intentionally preposterous sport in which teams take turns to dance while avoiding a &#8220;dwile&#8221; (beer-soaked cloth) thrown by their opponents.&#8221; It is also written dwile flunking, dwyle flonking, dwyle flunking. The first documented game took place in 1966 [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/dwile_flonking\">source<\/a>].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>According to Wikipedia, <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<strong>dwile flonking, dwyle flunking<\/strong> or <strong>nurdling<\/strong> is a British pub game played by two teams, with one dancing around in a circle, while a player from the other team attempts to hit them by throwing a beer-soaked cloth. The game is associated with the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the game can supposedly be traced back to the 16th century, it is thought to have been invented in the mid-1960s [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dwile_flonking\">source<\/a>].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UBamCWdx6gI?si=O46S-n3EhmfBLxsP\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Apparently <strong>dwile flonking<\/strong> requires a <strong>dwile<\/strong>, a <strong>driveller<\/strong> (a stick of some kind) and a bucket full of beer. The <strong>dwile<\/strong> is soaked in beer, then one team forms a <strong>snurd<\/strong> (circle) of <strong>girts<\/strong>, while a member of the other team, the <strong>flonker<\/strong>, stands in the middle holding a <strong>dwile<\/strong> on a <strong>driveller<\/strong>. The <strong>jobanowl<\/strong> (referee) yells <strong>let&#8217;s go t&#8217;gither<\/strong>, and the <strong>girts<\/strong> begin to <strong>girt<\/strong> (dance in a circle) in one direction, while the <strong>flonker<\/strong> turns in the other direction and attempts to <strong>flonk<\/strong> the <strong>dwile<\/strong> at or over the head of one of the <strong>girts<\/strong>. Participants dress up in local rustic attire, and drink rather a lot of beer before, during and after the <strong>flonking<\/strong> of the <strong>dwile<\/strong>. Other ridiculous rules apply. See <a href=\"https:\/\/tradfolk.co\/customs\/dwile-flonking\/\">TradFolk<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds like an ideal sport for the Olympics, and is in fact included in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cotswold_Olimpick_Games\">Cotswold Olimpick Games<\/a>, and is played annually in Beccles and Lewes in East Sussex in the south of England.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dwile<\/strong> used to refer to a cloth for wiping or cleaning, and comes from Dutch <strong>dweil<\/strong> (floorcloth, mop, worthless person, weakling), from Middle Dutch <em>dw\u00e2le<\/em> (cloth, towel), from Old Dutch <em>*thw\u0101la<\/em> (towel, washcloth), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*\u00fewahilu<\/em> (towel, washcloth), from <em>*\u00fewahan<\/em> (to wash, bathe) from Proto-Germanic <em>*\u00fewahan\u0105<\/em> (to wash, bathe) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/dwile\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>\u00fevo<\/strong> (to wash, do laundry) in Icelandic, <strong>tv\u00e5<\/strong> (to wash) and <strong>tv\u00e5l<\/strong> (soap) in Swedish, <strong>tovaglia<\/strong> (tablecloth, cloth) in Italian, <strong>toalha<\/strong> (towel, tablecloth) in Portuguese, and <strong>towel<\/strong> in English [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic\/%C3%BEwahan%C4%85\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Flonking<\/strong> possibly comes from <em>flong<\/em>, an old past tense form of <strong>fling<\/strong>, which comes from Middle English <em>flyngen<\/em> (to dash, rush, charge, fly, strike, throw, fling), from Old Norse <em>flengja \/ \u16a0\u16da\u16c1\u16be\u16b4\u16c1\u16c5<\/em> (to whip, ride furiously), from Proto-Germanic <em>*flangijan\u0105<\/em>, from Proto-Indo-European <em>*pleh\u2082k-<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/fling#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever flonked a dwile or gathered your girt in a snurd? Dwile flonking is mentioned in a novel I&#8217;m currently reading, Fiends in High Places by D.C. Farmer, and as I had no idea what it meant, I thought I&#8217;d find out. According to Wiktionary, dwile flonking is &#8220;An obscure and intentionally preposterous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,104,107,124,128,10,182,26,203,36,41,44,45,202,67,78],"tags":[439,440,433,158,434,438,435,138,281,436,437,163],"class_list":["post-24087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-icelandic","category-italian","category-language","category-middle-dutch-dietsc-duutsch","category-middle-english","category-old-dutch","category-old-norse","category-portuguese","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-swedish","category-words-and-phrases","tag-beer","tag-drinking-games","tag-dwile","tag-etymology","tag-flonking","tag-games","tag-girt","tag-language","tag-omniglot","tag-snurd","tag-sport","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24088,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24087\/revisions\/24088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}