A Lesson In Cock-Throwing

This is one of my favorite corrections ever: “A report on Wednesday about the launch of Google’s Art Project was illustrated by a painting, The Harvesters, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and a detailed close-up of a scene in the background. The article and caption stated that this showed a family ‘enjoying a jolly Shrove Tuesday game of throwing sticks at the tied-up goose’. Several readers were confused about a Shrovetide game being played in what is, in the painting, obviously harvest time in August or September. To clarify, the pastime was known as ‘cock-throwing’ (the bird often being a rooster rather than a goose) and, while indeed associated with Shrove Tuesday, may well have been played at other times of the year.”