Glossary
La donnée
The throw of the jack that starts every mène. Six to ten meters, one throw, and the whole game begins with a small piece of wood.
La donnée. The throw. The first thing that happens in every mène, and the last thing anyone talks about.
A player steps into the circle, tosses the cochonnet — a little wooden jack, 30 millimeters — and it has to land between six and ten meters away, somewhere visible. That’s it. That’s the whole job.
Two tries. If the jack lands short, long, or somewhere it can’t be seen, you get one more throw. Blow that too, and the other team places the jack by hand, wherever they like. Which is exactly as dangerous as it sounds.
Nobody practices the donnée. Everybody should. A good jack at nine meters on a rough terrain turns the mène into a pointing contest. A short jack at six and a half turns it into a shooting gallery. The thrower sets the terms of the next twenty minutes and then pretends it was luck.
Old players throw it soft, with backspin, like they’re placing an egg. Young players throw it like they’re skipping stones. The egg wins.
The word just means “the given.” What’s given. You give the jack, and the jack gives you the game.
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