mattock

Wordie seems to be well-represented in VA. :D

*wince* ouch

Just a quick story - we had a mattock in my house in Virginia when I grew up, and it turns out that the metal part at the end of the handle (both blades) fits on the tapered handle in such a way that the only reason it stays at the end is due to the centrifugal force generated when you swing it. So my father was digging something with it (or cutting tree roots or something like that) and so I decided to pick it up and imitate him - I was about 10, so I was pretty weak, and when I picked it up and when I slowly slung it over my head, the whole blade end slid down and smashed the bejeezus out of my hands -

Resistance is feudal.

Ah. I gotcha. Thanks.

I suppose I was thinking of a broader sense of peasant, connoting a subservient or lowest socio-economic grouping.

Umm... I thought the system of feudalism was what created peasants--that you couldn't actually be a peasant without being feudal. Of course i could be wrong... can you enlighten me?

In my opinion a peasant can be revolting, but not feudal. Others may differ.

Cool. I am totally down with revolting feudal peasants. (P.S. is there another kind of revolting peasant?)

Along with the pitchfork, the favoured weapon of the revolting feudal peasant.