Giddy-gaddy, also known as cat's pallet, was a children's game played in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, almost certainly a variation on

tip-cat Tip-cat (also called cat, cat and dog, one-a-cat, pussy, or piggy) is a pastime which consists of tapping a short billet of wood (usually no more than ) with a larger stick (similar to a baseball bat or broom handle); the shorter piece is tapered ...

. It involved "striking one end of a sharpened piece of wood causing it to rise and then driving it some distance with a stick"; the object was to hit it as far as possible. The name "giddy-gaddy" for the game appears only in the

court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etym ...

records of the manor of Manchester, an indication of the disruption and damage it caused in the streets of industrial areas such as

Ardwick Ardwick is a district of Manchester in North West England, one mile south east of the city centre. The population of the Ardwick Ward at the 2011 census was 19,250. Historically in Lancashire, by the mid-nineteenth century Ardwick had grown from ...

References

Notes Bibliography * * * {{refend Children's games