"Gouge and Bite, Pull Hair and Scratch"

[Ramrod]

Interesting stuff.........Seems like society has become better

The "trifling and ridiculous" reasons for these fights had an unreal quality for the matter-of-fact Yankee. Not assaults on persons or property but slights, insults, and thoughtless gestures set young southerners against each other.......The emphasis on maximum disfigurement, on severing bodily parts, made this fighting style unique. Amid the general mayhem, however, gouging out an opponent’s eye became the sine qua non of rough-and-tumble fighting, much like the knockout punch in modern boxing............

[danielf]

Combatants boasted, howled, and cursed. As words gave way to action, they tripped and threw, gouged and butted, scratched and choked each other. "But what is worse than all," Isaac Weld observed, "these wretches in their combat endeavor to their utmost to tear out each other’s testicles."

[punky]

Haven't got time to read it all, but it doesn't sound much different to the "all-in" street fights that Lenny McClean and Roy Shaw used to. Like in that article, the practice is very gypsy/traveller subscribed here too.

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by punky

Haven't got time to read it all, but it doesn't sound much different to the "all-in" street fights that Lenny McClean and Roy Shaw used to. Like in that article, the practice is very gypsy/traveller subscribed here too.

The difference here being that the combatants actively tried to gouge out eyes and bite off ears in those days.

[budwieser]

Lenny McClean and Roy Shaw used to break jaws and heads with one punch,
No real fighters about anymore then?

[Flubflow]

Originally Posted by budwieser

Lenny McClean and Roy Shaw used to break jaws and heads with one punch,
No real fighters about anymore then?

Naffink loyke a bit ov da auld Essex Windmilling den?

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by budwieser

Lenny McClean and Roy Shaw used to break jaws and heads with one punch,
No real fighters about anymore then?

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