I was reading an old book(1959) and it made reference to the “Boobie prize”.
This was HX dated 500+ years ago in Germany.
The book is titled “Pageant of the @#$%”
This Author was telling his version of many HX events, and i feel there may be other facts.
I don’t know, but I was terribly disappointed when I first learned that the “booby prize” didn’t involve boobies whatsoever.
Forget ‘booby prize’, I had no idea Homo Xtra was around 500 years ago!
The phrase booby prize dates to 1889, according to the OED (see link, not the British university). A booby is a stupid person, presumably acting like the bird. As an aside, it’s unrelated in origin to the term for breasts.
In this case we assume the author was simply using it since it fit the reference, and not because that was the word for it back then (… if that was what you were asking. What ‘other facts’ do you mean?)
Thanks for the responce,
The book, “Pageant of the Gun” By Harold L Peterson. 1959
The story is "Matchlock Marksmen and is about Marksman from Switzerland, Germany, and Austria competeing in shooting matches, where the top marksman recieved lavish prizes of Gold, Silver, Rich Cloth, etc. But most of all to evade the dreadded lowest score, as jesters would seize this shooter and ridicule him and it was a practice to thrust into his arms a sow with piglets- the traditional boobie prize for shooting events.
So maybe it was just the author that equated booby prize to this old custom??
As i refered to in the original post, that this author is just giving his version of these events in history.
Dex agrees: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbooby.html
This says 1885: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/70950.html
Was this book fiction or non-fiction?
A Treasury of Firearms: their romance and lore, developmen and use through ten centuries. (with 200 photographs).
All chapters in this volume first appeared as part of a continuing series in “Guns and Hunting” a monthly magazine devoted to sportsman and firearms enthusiasts. In order to appeal to a knowledgable audience, every artical had to combine an originality of detail with an infusion of unfamiliar anecdote and some originality of interpretation.
Fiction/nonfiction? I would say non-fiction with style.
The use of booby prize in this book would give it a reference to boobs IMHO.
even if the term Booby Prize hadn’t been coined at that time.