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So, in baseball (and, in other sports, I suspect), in a three (or five, or seven) game series that is tied going into the final game, that final game is often called a "rubber game" or just a "rubber". Where does that usage come from? One site I read mentioned that it came into the language in 1599, but couldn't find any consensus about whence it came. Any knowledge/theories/wild-ass guesses here?
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Pooh-Bah
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Card games such as whist and bridge also use this term, in exactly the same way. I have often wondered why.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OED2 posits "Of obscure origin: there is no evident connexion with [the other rubber(s)]." so SWAG on.
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OK, I'll take a SWAG at my own question. Could it be that, like a rubber ball, the outcome of the series could "bounce" in either direction based on the result of a single game? Were rubber balls common in the late 16th C?
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And, to contribute once again to my own thread (I suppose it's like having a conversation with oneself, which I have also been known to do), wwh PM'd me to mention that he read somewhere that the "rubber game" was so yclept because it required the erasing of the previous scores to start fresh. Sounds plausible to me, assuming a "rubber" was an eraser in 1599.
Perhaps a special round of "Hogwash 2: Derivations" in in order?
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journeyman
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Can't be the bouncy rubber (caoutchouc), which didn't come in till much later. A 1500s rubber was a cloth.
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Can't be the bouncy rubber (caoutchouc), which didn't come in till much later.
I didn't think so. Must be Dr. Bill's theory, then. What a great word "caoutchouc" is, though!
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Carpal Tunnel
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In 1770, the noted scientist Sir Joseph Priestley (discoverer of oxygen) recorded the following, "I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil." Europeans were rubbing out pencil marks with the small cubes of rubber, the substance that Condamine had brought to Europe from South America. They called their erasers "peaux de negres". However, rubber was not an easy substance to work with because it went bad very easily -- just like food, rubber would rot. English engineer, Edward Naime is also credited with the creation of the first eraser in 1770. Before rubber, breadcrumbs had been used to erase pencil marks. Naime claims he accidentally picked up a piece of rubber instead of his lump of bread and discovered the possibilities, he went on to sell the new rubbing out devices or rubbers.
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Carpal Tunnel
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AHD4 says that rubber also means the entire set of games. It says the origin is unknown, which it does not say about the other rubber, suggesting that the two words may be unrelated. I believe the entire set definition is commonly used in bridge. http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/R0332400.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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From Webster's 1828 Dictionary: 5. The gaming, two games out of three; or the game that decides the contest; or a contest consisting of three games. AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary has 16c as "etymology" of rubber in this sense. Whoa--totally unhelpful for this question, but still interesting: http://www.symbols.com/index/wordindex-r.htmlTheory: When "Aye, there's the rub" flashed into my head, I had the thought that this means a sticking point--something that's uncomfortable for somebody--which would also be the case for the loser(s) of a deciding game. So maybe it came from that author whom I don't care to mention.
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