"Pipped At The Post" Traditional Cache
K,P&M: After many years of maintaining this cache from a distance after leaving Lincolnshire my last visit revealed that in an attempt to find the cache there was damage being done - this is against Geocaching ethos/rules and unacceptable to me for one of my caches 😡
I've decided it is time to archive it to stop any further damage.
Thanks to everyone who "bagged" this remote cache on one of my favourite cycle rides 😉👍😊🚵♂️💨
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I love the phrases and sayings in the English language that we use every day, for me finding out how and where they originate is part of the fun. I thought I'd put together a few caches that reflect some of these phrases and sayings in their names, locations or containers. "A Shot in the dark" was the first and "Pipped At The Post" is the second.
Meaning: To be defeated at the last moment.
While the full expression is not surprisingly from horse-racing to mean defeated at the winning post, the origin of the 'pip' element is the most interesting part.
Pip is an old slang expression for defeat and it's actually derived from the term 'blackball', meaning to deny access - originally to a club - or to shun or defeat. The traditional club membership voting method, which Brewer says in 1870 is old-fashioned, so the practice was certainly mid-19th C or earlier was for members to place either a black ball (against) or a red or white ball (for) in a box or bag. The balls were counted and if there were more blacks than reds or whites then the membership application was denied - the prospective new member was 'blackballed'.
The black ball was called a pip (after the pip of a fruit, in turn from earlier similar words which meant the fruit itself, eg pippin, and the Greek, pepe for melon), so pipped became another way or saying blackballed or defeated.
This cache is somewhat out in the Fens so not really a walk to it unless you start in the village of Timberland, if you do there are local facilities available for food and drink afterwards. You will need to walk along a road and there are drainage ditches along the route and at the cache location so please take care of junior cachers.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur uvag vf va gur anzr, whfg qba'g trg cvccrq ng gur cbfg!?!
:0)
Treasures
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