Talk:Shillelagh

Pronunciation
I'm not sure about the Gaelic pronunciation. Any speakers or scholars of the language are encouraged to emend it. --Atemperman 02:56, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Penal Laws
Is there any truth that the Shillelagh was first invented due to the banning of weapons by Catholic Irish during the period of the Penal Laws? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Madkaffir (talk • contribs).


 * The sail éille certainly predates the Penal Laws, though it could be said to have gained its popularity during that era. Cured blackthorn was a popular material for walking sticks and had been for years.  It was that innocuous and ubiquitous nature that made them perfect for discreet training by various factions.  They were originally used largely as stand-ins for swords, though the techniques used with them gradually embraced and emphasized the utility of the cudgel itself.


 * This is admittedly a broad generalization; as I said blackthorn sticks and cudgels had been popular in Ireland for centuries and many independent evolutions of the modern sail éille could be claimed. So no, it was not "invented" during the Penal Laws period, it just became more widespread and well known.  My thoughts, at least.  The Cap&#39;n (talk) 17:43, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Shillelagh Law
For notification, I have tagged this article for speedy deletion for apparent copyright violations. MikeHobday (talk) 14:37, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Popular culture
The popular culture section is entirely too long, and overwhelms the article. I am going to begin removing the most extraneous and trivial items, unless someone can provide a good reason not to. At this point, it is absurdly and ridiculously long. --- RepublicanJacobite  The'FortyFive'  02:11, 26 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Final paragraph should read Inniskilling (not Inniskillen). Ref: Enniskillen Museum.
 * Annan01 21:02 September 2009 —Preceding comment was added by :Annan01 (talk • contribs) 20:03, 7 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Reaon for not removing:


 * Its fine.


 * Get a life. No one else cares.


 * I know the advent of Wikipedia has made you feel special, and that your contributions and nit picking suit your OCD well, but when others look up topics on wikipedia, we want information.


 * To be honest, I wish there was more information.


 * Seriously, its people like you that are ruining wikipedia. Its not yours alone. Its all of ours.


 * No go find some typos to fix son. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.222.243.13 (talk) 03:23, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

While the user above is being a douchebag about it, I do agree with the gist of their argument, sans ad hominem attacks. We're not constrained by paper here, and I really oppose the rising mindset of editing every article down to a bare minimum. Less is not more, more is more. Sure, get rid of unreferenced material. Sure, edit and correct rambling or incoherent sections. But why remove information just because there's plenty of it?

Sure, the popular culture section was bigger than the others, and that makes the article unbalanced. But ADD more to the rest of the article, don't REMOVE data from a detailed section. Let's stick to the highest common denominator, not the lowest.

That said, the user above is still a douche. The Cap&#39;n (talk) 18:28, 6 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't understand the logic of cutting info simoly because the Pop Cukture section was larger than the other sections. I have never considered symmetry as a goal when editing - and esoecially in a forum that's entire purpose is providing information.
 * Pop Culture may seem like an absurd and pointless section for a historical, cultural, topic like the Shillelagh to some but I strongly disagree.
 * Believe it or not there are people who were not raised in an environment that encouraged learning or exposed them to art or culture, and never taught them history has any significance in their life. Yet sometimes through an absurd and frivolous area of Pop Culture like a movie they hear a word like Shillalagh and despite their upbringing that actually crave learning and knowledge and so they google the word and end up here and learn something about a historical item in from another culture.
 * So I think there is great value in listing that Shilllagh was mentioned in the movie Best In Show and some people learn something new from that reference.


 * Best In Show
 * "Brattworst and Shillekaghs... paging Dr.Freud." -- StaceyGuth (talk) 12:57, 26 March 2012 (UTC)


 * they are be exposed to something  they have never heard of like a Shillelagh and they   some of those people actually might like those subjects if they are exposed to them. it is from a  — Preceding unsigned comment added by StaceyGuth (talk • contribs) 12:57, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Town and stick link
A change was made recently stating that the stick is named for the village. I can't check the OED cite to verify the claim, but it goes against everything I ever read about the derivation of the term. From my understanding it's purely coincidental that the name of the village (Síol Éalaigh, meaning "Descendants of Éalach") and the name of the stick (Sail éille, meaning a stick on a string) were anglicised to similar sounding words. Certainly the village has - in recent years - become associated with the stick. But that is hardly surprising as tourists turned up in the town looking for some connection. However the Irish terms for both do not support the claim that they have the same derivation. An alternative verifiable cite (or an explanation of the OED cite) would seem to be in order for clarity here! Guliolopez (talk) 08:58, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I copypasted all relevant passages from the OED entry to the ref note and added another, open-source ref. I also removed the tag but iff you can source your claim it should probably be added as an alternative etymology. --Thrissel (talk) 10:55, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Wattles
The quote in the History section mentions "spears and wattles." I can't find anything on the web that refers to a wattle as a weapon specifically. What is this? I think a reference for this would be useful. 99.245.230.104 (talk) 23:57, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

The original assertion and quote appears to come from John W. Hurley in 2007 from his Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick, with pretty much all significant references to "wattles" as weapons quoting him. Other contexts for "spears and wattles" appearing in the same sentence together seem to come from Thomas Laurie in 1885 The Ely Volume: Or, The Contributions of Our Foreign Missions to Science and Human Well-Being, where Laurie is clearly referring to "wattles" as bamboo poles that might be used e.g. for spear shafts, boat poles, construction materials, umbrella shafts, etc. In the Wikipedia Shillelagh (club) article, someone has linked the word to an article on the Acacia tree; apparently Australian varieties of Acacia are known there as "wattles", e.g. "golden wattle". I can't find much of an etymology, but (and I'm speculating) the acacia's "wattle" connection might be in reference to definitions of "wattle", e.g. from Merriam-Webster, such as "a fabrication of poles interwoven with slender branches, withes, or reeds and used especially formerly in building", "material for such construction", and perhaps "poles laid on a roof to support thatch" - the etymology for this more common use of "wattle" seems unclear (the use of the term in describe constructions of woven sticks is allegedly related to an Old High Germanic word for bandages: "Middle English wattel, from Old English watel; akin to Old High German wadal bandage", perhaps in the sense that both bandages and the construction material are made of crudely woven materials?)  In conclusion, I think that, in context, what Hurley must surely be referring to is not wattles as a weapon per se, but rather to rods, staves, or poles used as improvised weapons, perhaps comparable to quarterstaves....  However, I should note that this is amateur original research, and I'm not a scholar or expert on the subject! Ywhateley (talk) 19:19, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Requested move 8 April 2022

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: moved. Colin M (talk) 20:10, 18 April 2022 (UTC)

– The walking-stick/weapon appears to be a WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for this term. Per the pageviews, it dominates in reader interest over the (very) small village and the barony. The MGM-51 guided missile attracts some readers, but not so many (page views included here), and it seems unlikely to be sought primarily as "Shillelagh", and its name is presumably derived from that of the other weapon. The "club" disambiguator is also a bit awkward – e.g., it could be interpreted as describing a social club. The stick/weapon also has obvious long-term notability, so its popularity among readers is not a matter of recentism. —&#8288;&#8202;&#8288;BarrelProof (talk) 18:26, 8 April 2022 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Shillelagh (club) → Shillelagh
 * Shillelagh → Shillelagh (disambiguation)
 * The pageviews aren't usually a good indicator of usage on Wikipedia (because only a tiny fraction of them come from users searching here directly). Given that the dab is at the base title, there is direct data about usage from Wikinav, which shows that the weapon gets about two thirds of the outgoing traffic from the dab page. – Uanfala (talk) 15:47, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Seems to tick both WP:PTOPIC #1 and #2 checkboxes. No such user (talk) 08:20, 12 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 17:33, 12 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Clear primary topic. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:01, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

"Shillelagh (Shillelagh)" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Shillelagh (Shillelagh) and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 April 18 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Steel1943 (talk) 20:40, 18 April 2022 (UTC)

Bataireacht
As the Bataireacht page has apparently been singled out for a merge with this one, I am opening a discussion in the hope of producing an orderly move to this page and hopefully clear up some of the major points of contention that caused the Bataireacht page to be deleted in the first place. Excuse the wordiness, and the use of several quotes, but I want to make sure that the sources are plainly included here for everyone to peruse and properly consider. Plus, I am only including primary sources and peer reviewed ones.

Bataireacht

One point that was brought up in the page talk was the reference to the name itself. -Bataireacht (or as it was written "bataireachd") is reference under cudgeling in William Shaw (1780). A Gaelic and English Dictionary. (no page number, see entry bataireachd). the word is referenced also in most subsequent Irish dictionnaries. -Ag imirt na maidí is referenced under cudgeling in O'Begly, Conor (1732). An Focloir Bearla Gaoidheilge. p. 145 -Boiscín is referenced in Irish folklorist Michael Kirby's (2003). Skelligs Calling. Dublin: The Lilliput Press. p.97 The description he gives of it highly points towards a martial art: "Old Donal McCarthy drank here also. The old man witnessed the Famine, its aftermath, the years of recovery and the shameful spectacle of faction fighting between cudgel-wielding clans. He too, among others, was expert in the use of the cudgel in self-defence. This art was the equivalent of the cut, thrust and parry of swordplay, as practiced in the naval sailing fleet of the time. The faction-fighting clans called this form of self defence Boiscín or “boskeen”. The so-called shillelagh took the place of the sword. Irish shillelagh-wielders were known to have beaten some swordsmen."

After being severely beaten by McCarthy, a British Coast Guard remarks that: “This convinced him that cudgel fighting and fencing derived from the same art.”

The meaning of the word has been brought up in subsequent discussions to invalidate its use. I think it is a mistake. Cudgeling can refer to an action, but actions can also be the name of a practice of martial art. By such logic, wrestling could be dismissed as "to wrestle". Or what about French Savate, which literally means “old shoe”. It could be argued that Boiscín should perhaps be the main term, since it is one of the few that is clearly identified as a name used for the practice by a reliable source. Regardless, all these terms have definitions that fit the practice, and have a long history of being documented. Bataireacht has now long been adopted by the Irish stick fighting community.

Martial art

Another point of contention was the definition of bataireacht as a martial art. One editor questioned how the act of stick fighting during brawls could be considered a martial art. Looking at the Wiki definition of a martial art, we find: "Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preservation of a nation's intangible cultural heritage.". While defining a term is highly subjective, and Cambridge only gives us one perspective, I would say that it does fit what most people would recognize as being a martial art.

So is bataireacht a codified system? I would say yes, in the sense that it is reliably similar in most of its documented descriptions, of which we have 3 main ones: Walker, Allanson-Winn and the author of the San Francisco Sun article. All three describe the stick grasped in the same unique manner, for the same reason (protecting the forearm and elbow) and with similar actions being performed. Donald Walker presents it alongside fencing, boxing and wrestling, and showcases a unique type of single time counter, using the lower end of the stick to parry, using the energy of the opposing strike to land a hit. Walker, D. (1840). Defensive exercises; comprising wrestling, boxing, &c. London: Thomas Hurst.

Allanson Winn has this to say of bataireacht: “Sometimes a great deal of skill is displayed, and I often wonder whether a really expert swordsman would be much more than a match for some quick, strong, Kerry boys I could pick out.” Allanson-Winn, R., & Phillips-Wooley, C. (1911). BROAD-SWORD AND SINGLE-STICK WITH CHAPTERS ON QUARTER-STAFF, BAYONET, CUDGEL SHILLALAH, WALKING-STICK, UMBRELLA,and other Weapons of Self- Defence. London: G. BELL & SONS.

Kirby makes several allusions to Boiscín being the "use of the shillelagh as a weapon of self-defense" and that its practitioners were quite skillful.

The San Francisco Call August 20, 1905, p. 4: "It is, however, to the Emerald Isle that one must look to get instructions on the ways in which, the cane can be most successfully brought into use as a weapon of self-defense."

Patrick Lyons, a former RIC sergeant, antiquarian and archeologist, who must have noticed bataireacht personally over his lifetime (1861 – 1954) had a lot of praise for bataireacht, which he called "stick fencing", probably a translation of Boiscín. "Professional teachers of the art seem to have been numerous. Down, apparently, to the first quarter of the last century, there was at Cahir, Co. Tipperary, a school for the teaching of stick-fencing, and the instance seems not to have been an isolated one. A choice selection of fencing-sticks used to be placed on a stand in the street opposite to this establishment. A grown male person handling one of these sticks through curiosity would be asked by a pupil of the school: “Are you able to use that stick?» and the answer being in the affirmative, battle was at once joined. Thus did the school advertise itself. Fathers of families used sedulously to teach the practice to their boys, the parent in such case being a modern representative of the military tutor of former times." Lyons, P. (1943). Stick-Fencing. Béaloideas, 269-272.

Going a bit earlier, Scottish fencing master Archibald MacGregor commented in 1791 : “I am told that a number of the Irish are very good at fighting with two sticks, viz. a short one in their left hand to guard with and a long one in their right, which they manage with amazing dexterity.”

The author of Autobiography of an Irish traveler recounts a friendly bout with a Bataire, using his sword against a shillelagh: "At it we went accordingly, and, in truth, I never saw a cudgel played in such style before. He kept on the defensive, and parried all my cuts for fifteen minutes, without having his guard broke in upon. After this, changing his method, he began upon the offensive; and, in the course of ten minutes more, my sword had been three times nearly struck from my grasp. I now threw it down, and gave him my hand, satisfied of his unrivaled dexterity; for, when at Berlin, I was considered quite skillful.Lads were all pleased with our trial of skill, and not less so with the good humor I exhibited on being defeated. I am convinced no swordsman could have resisted my antagonist. His cudgel moved like lightning; “

I could go on like this with several dozen more sources, but you probably get the idea by now. Bataireacht was a martial art.

Modern practice

In the talk section of the Bataireacht page, an editor made several accusations towards the modern schools that exist today, claiming that they were recent inventions. This editor was of the belief that two styles existed, the Doyle family one, and one that had been created by John Hurley. The first one does exist, and was passed down through a branch of the Doyle family that took residence in Newfoundland, but the other one seems to be a misreading of one of Hurley’s book. The latter does not appear to teach his own style, but practices the Doyle style. The second documented style is Antrim Bata, which was preserved by the Ramsey family in county Antrim. Both are presently taught in Ireland, as well as several other countries.

Demands were made in the talk page to produce some sort of documented proof of the antiquity of these styles. This is a misunderstanding of how vernacular martial arts are passed down. Bataireacht was very much a thing of the working class, with few practitioners being either skilled enough to document what they did, or being conscious of the need to do so, were someone to demand this kind of proof 200 years later. Instead, these martial arts should be approached through a formal analysis, comparing them to the sources that are available and which I presented earlier on. This exercise was done by Chouinard and Featherstone (2023) A once famous Irish martial art coming back to life, in The Immersion Review, Vol. 3, p. 21. This journal is peer reviewed, and should probably fit the demands previously made for such a source.

“We do know what bataireacht looked like, thanks not only to quite a few historical sources, but also to a few remaining lineages. The image we have of the art is remarkably consistent. A mainly one handed art which uses sticks held around the third or middle section. The lower part, called the buta, is used to protect the arm, and serves as a kind of guard, not only to block but also to cover. When blocking, the buta can be used to strike simultaneously, the opponent’s strike being returned at him through a fulcrum effect. The stick is typically gripped with the thumb up along the shaft, a detail that again comes back in nearly every historical description.” Kick Sugar (talk) 03:53, 12 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Hi. With thanks for your (acknowledged lengthy) note, to my mind, the main issue issue to address in advance of a merge is the lack of sources in the Bataireacht article. As it stands, the only two references (which directly refer to the term) are the Hemamisfits.com and BBC articles. And perhaps the O'Begly dictionary ref (which can just about be used to support a DICDEF confirmation that the term means "to cudgel"). As it stands, and likely the reason the merge hasn't occurred yet, is because large swathes of the article would have to be "left behind". As unsupported text cannot be added to this article. Certainly I wouldn't be happy given the WP:BURDEN on the merging editor. Guliolopez (talk) 14:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree that the page needs better sources, but I think that could be fixed, at least in regards to the history of the practice. The sources I am giving in my previous post fit Wikipedia's standards I believe.
 * The issue with the name is perhaps trickier. It depends what we are looking for here. Do we want a name that has a documented historical grounding, or do we want a name that reflects current usage? For the former, we definetely have Boiscín, which shows up in various forms in different sources. The issue is that it is not a term that you seem to encounter much now. Bataireacht was repurposed by Hurley, apparently extrapolating from what he found in dictionnaries, but regardless of the issues with that process it is a term that the community of practitionners has visibly adopted now. This isn't a unique occurence in martial arts. Liu-bo is a traditionnal stick fighting martial art from Italy that adopted a completely new name, we have arguably the same phenomenon with kali or karate, where debates exist around the origin or the term or its rendition, but the fact is that they are still used to name the practice, and I don't feel that it is Wikipedia's role to force communities to change their terminology because the current version does not fit the one used 200 years ago.
 * Quite simply, I think it would be easy enough to explain in either this page or the Bataireacht one. To present the historical terms using the primary sources, and explain how Bataireacht came to be adopted. That would be factually correct and transparent. Kick Sugar (talk) 16:49, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

OK. It's been well over a month. So I've gone ahead and merged the bulk of the cited content (from Bataireacht / to Shillelagh. And redirected the title. Per the AfD outcome. The merged text could, quite likely, be more gracefully integrated into the target article. And, with reliable/verifiable refs that actually support the text and term, could perhaps be improved further. If anyone needs help/input (in advance of doing that), please raise here. And I'll be happy to help/contribute. Ideally in a new thread. As, otherwise, this thread is becoming quite the unfocused/TLDR essay... Guliolopez (talk) 16:57, 25 January 2024 (UTC)