this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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When I was growing up my father had a wooden mallet he'd made himself. He still has it now, but he had it then too.
It was called a "dongy knocker".
The thing is, there's contradictory stories for why it was called that. On the one hand when I looked it up, it seems like it's an obscure antipodean term. My father was in rural New Zealand in the '70s and may well have picked it up the term over there. This is reinforced by the name of a weapon in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the Bommy Knocker, and threads like this.
However it's also possible I named it, according to a book someone published about working for my father (in the anecdote someone had damaged the fabled mallet and was rather worried about what they'd done!). I'm not worried about doxing myself - I've been using this username since 2002 and have clothes with it on. It's not a secret who I am.
When I was a kid and someone asked me "what's up?" I would, as a smug little snot, say "a direction, similar to but diametrically opposed from down."
TIL there was a better way to say that.
It could be coincidence, but there's an antiquated term for a mace or morningstar, bommyknocker. People on the web seem to attribute it to a children's book from the 90s, but I've found much older uses in the past, both in the UK and in Oceania. Similar to your name and not a very dissimilar tool.
Edit: I guess it's obvious I skimmed your answer! You've already made the connection.
I'm from Australia. When I was a kid my mum used to call those inflatable baseball bats and inflatable hammers "tommy knockers", and weirdly my dad called big boobs "tommy knockers". I'm sure that and bomby knocker and dongy knocker are all derived from the same root colloquialism.
Late last night and the night before...
You could have been using DongyKnocker this whole time!