I recently returned from North Carolina, where I visited Old Salem, an historic area similar to Colonial Williamsburg. There, one of the guides explained that a “weasel” was a wooden pin on a spinning wheel, which would “pop” (much like a plastic turkey thermometer does) when the wheel had completed a set number of revolutions, so as to produce uniform lengths of yarn for weaving.
Could be true, might not be… But it sure sounded like a reasonable explanation.
So you’re providing additional evidence supporting Cecil, right? Generally, Tour Guides are pretty notorious for spreading incorrect origin legends, to make their spiel more interesting. They probably believe 'em themselves, who knows. It’s nice to find a Tour Guide that is reporting a (probably) accurate origin!
As tour guide in Savannah, we were given the same info. I checked with a dear friend who does reinactments, spec’ly womenfolksy things like spinning, and she says she heard it frm her gran. Shrugs.
My Girl Guides and their mums actually sing, Half a pound of tuppenny rice, half a pound of treacle, thats the way the money goes…
And, just for the record a very few tour guides are indeed capable of going out and digging up first sources, archived docs, ect, and deliver fairly accurate educational programming. Only a few, but some really do.
