Posted by Niall Giblin on December 09, 2002 at 03:40:05:
In Reply to: Re "Spike" posted by Niall Giblin on December 05, 2002 at 04:55:53:
Upon reflection, Greenhalgh and I, and the other kid, may well have been the first to have received a thrashing at the school.
The irony is striking. Many of the previous entries made on this site have related to corporal punishment and the nature of the Rev.’s character. The fact that the name Spike resulted not merely because of his nose but because two 11-year-old boys were beaten and found the name Spike, with its connotation of violence, to be most apt (even if such thoughts may not have been spoken of at the time) gives one pause for thought. Therefore, at the very commencement of the school’s life there was a collision between Spike, corporal punishment and these two 11-year-old boys which resulted in his having to live with the name Spike for the rest of his school life.
This almost leads one to believe in non-sentient entities. Vengence and all that. There again, thank God, we all went to a RC school and we don’t believe in that sort of mumbo jumbo.
For some time it was the practice that during lunch the boys at each table would be required to sit on Spike’s table at the end close to the entrance. In or about 1967, it was the turn of myself and the other boys at my table. During the course of lunch, he asked each boy at the table to say what were their own nicknames. We each then stated our respective nicknames. He then asked what was his nickname. There was a stony silence. He then said that he already knew it.
My apologies to the Webmaster for not having entered my acts of transgression in the Register of Discipline. I have rectified this error.