>>2352999i imagine before we got the holes we played something similar do jeu de boules
we call it a knikker, meaning something like bumper. think the verb came from the game, not the other way around.
in the south and in flanders they call them knikkers if they're made of baked clay and marbels if they're made of glass. we just call all of them knikkers
The name was also different if it was bigger, I remember most calling them bonken. There are a bunch of other names for them but they were all used before my time.
