If you heard Stringer tell Archer point-blank to brace himself for a quarrel, you were probably an archer.
Surnames taken from archery include Stringer, Bower, Fletcher, Abbott, meaning, “at the butts”, and of course Archer.
Point-blank is the bulls-eye on a French target.
“Brace yourself” meant prepare to shoot, while a quarrel is an arrow shot from a crossbow.
Archery was taken so seriously that Henry I of England passed a law that dismissed any punishment for anyone who killed someone while practicing.
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