Yo-yos originally designed as weapons?

[Bee]

I searched this message board and the ULRP and didn't find anything on this. There is a current Diet Mountain Dew commercial that claims yo-yos were originally designed to be weapons and shows a convenience store clerk and a would-be robber whacking each other with yo-yos.

Not that I get my history from commercials, but I was curious about whether they had just made it up or might actually believe it to be true. (Or I suppose, though I doubted it, whether it actually was true.)

Wikipedia says... not so much, but also acknowledges this as a common legend.

I had never heard this one before. Funny premise for a commercial, though.
Bee

[A Turtle Named Mack]

The way I got it was that in the island areas between Asia and Australia, a throwing rock would have a very long twine on it. It would either have appropriate bulges or a hole drilled through it, so the twine would not slip off. The hunter would be in a tree and wait for prey and then throw the stone - if it hits, great! If it doesn't, he can just pull the rock back up for the next victim, without having to climb down the tree to fetch the rock. And somehow that gave rise to the yo-yo.

[Troberg]

Wasn't one used as a weapon in Octopussy? (sorry, no octupus slap icon)

[charlie23]

The Phillippine myth is that "around 1500" the islanders used a stone attached to a twine as Mack says, but it's pretty widely disputed and in any case a 4 lb. rock on a string probably wouldn't return to the user under it's own power like a yo-yo does. In my book that means it isn't a yo-yo.
Still, according toThis Site the toy was brought to America in the 1920's by a Filipino named Pedro Flores. (Other information indicates that the toy was already in use in America, but he was the first to commercially produce them there).
Anyway, the toy version apparently dates back at least as far as 500 B.C. in Greece, prior to Filipinos tossing rocks on strings out of the trees.
HistoryOfYoYo

[Troberg]

I failt to see why it would be useful to put a rock on a string in order to retrieve it. A rock hardly represents the pinnacle of technical sofistication nor a huge investment in work. Throw it, if you find it, pick it up again, if not pick up another one.

Add to that that such a string, especially in a forest, would seriously mess up the ballistics of this primitive missile.

The only reason I can think of to tie a string to it is to put a tail on it to give it a better trajectory and make sure it hits with the right side first, but that would be a shorter string.

Anyway, the toy version apparently dates back at least as far as 500 B.C. in Greece, prior to Filipinos tossing rocks on strings out of the trees.

I would say that it's probably also related to the diabolo ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabolo ).

[Silas Sparkhammer]

There is (supposedly?) an improvised weapon called "The Sheriff's Punch," which consists of a weight on a thong. You throw the weight, and, if you miss, or if you want to repeat the attack, you pull it right back to your fist and throw again.

Also, the bola comes to mind. A weight on a string is difficult to learn to use -- but once you get good at it, you can be a deadly opponent.

Just ask the Balearic slingers.

Silas (or Thor's hammer from the Marvel comic books...)

[silverdropp]

Well, if yo yos were once used as weapons, they'd be about as useful as a feather to me in a fight. I'm absolutely hopeless when it comes to working one of those things properly...

[Troberg]

There is (supposedly?) an improvised weapon called "The Sheriff's Punch," which consists of a weight on a thong. You throw the weight, and, if you miss, or if you want to repeat the attack, you pull it right back to your fist and throw again.

Why throw it, why not swing it? That would give it more speed and impact.

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by Troberg

I failt to see why it would be useful to put a rock on a string in order to retrieve it.).

Because if you were in a tree as he said each time you threw it you would have to get out of the tree, get another rock, and then climb back up.