#52215
01/08/2002 7:56 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Somehow I wasn't born with the sports gene. Well, this sports-challenged temperament doesn't have to stop one from using the words of sports. There are countless terms from the world of sports we use metaphorically every day. This week's AWAD brings together a few words from the world of cricket, football, baseball, and other games and sports, that are used in real life as well. Anu
A challenge: surely those of us who do have a sports gene Hi, Sparteye! can come up with words and phrases superior to "sticky wicket" and "dipsy doodle"!
To get the ball rolling, I tender slam dunk and southpaw.
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#52216
01/08/2002 9:04 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
One of the baseball greats of the twenties, Mickey Cochran, catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics had his career ended by a "beanball".
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#52217
01/08/2002 10:59 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Stickey wicket? Dipsy doodle? Oh, c'mon! Somebody must be yankin' my chain! (now what sport is that from?) 
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#52218
01/09/2002 4:15 AM
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688
addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688 |
A challenge: surely those of us who do have a sports gene Hi, Sparteye! can come up with words and phrases zuperior to "sticky wicket and "dipsy doodle"!
Definately no sports gene here..but howzabout....
Shooting from the hip
Straight arrow
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#52219
01/09/2002 11:56 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
It's a question of whether you want your Word a Day posts to give you words you already know or words that are new to you.
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#52220
01/09/2002 5:27 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
or words that you already know but with meanings new to you...
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#52221
01/09/2002 5:41 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Mickey Cochran
Ray Chapman had a little more than his career ended by a bean ball
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#52223
01/10/2002 6:02 PM
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 69
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 69 |
I suspect (no proof) that such usage is of prison inmate/chain gang origin. To pull one's leg is to deceive them, and the easiest way to pull someone's leg in a chain gang is to yank their chain.
Can you tell I play Balderdash? ;-)
Cheers,
Bryan
Cheers,
Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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#52224
01/10/2002 6:04 PM
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 69
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 69 |
Cheers,
Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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#52225
01/10/2002 6:05 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Zat anything like Hogwash®?
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#52226
01/10/2002 6:12 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I was wondering about the Real McCoy myself.
Not to mention deadlock
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#52227
01/10/2002 6:43 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
As was pointed out, he can (still) be found at the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices.
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#52228
01/10/2002 8:41 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
speaking of, here's a site which claims to have all the words from the commercial game defined. I wonder if that's some sort of copyright infringement? http://www.piggle.com/balderdash.html
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#52229
01/13/2002 12:33 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Per Webb Garrison, Why You Say It:
Fall Guy - In the late 1800s, professional wrestling shows traveled the country and scheduled matches, many if not most of which were fixed. One wrestler would agree to take a fall for a stipulated sum and his opponent would promise to handle him gently. But to make a match look good, the winner was often quite rough with the fellow taking the fall, and fall guy came into common speech as a term for loser, victim or dupe by 1900.
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#52230
01/13/2002 12:41 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Per Garrison, again:
The Real McCoy - Kid McCoy was a boxer in the 1890s. He did not have a formidable appearance, and apparently was challenged as to his identity by more than one barfly. Kid McCoy's demonstrations that he was the real fighter created legends, and as a result anything which was indisputably the authentic article was called the real McCoy.
Deadlock - from wrestling, a hold which can immobilize an opponent indefinitely but is unable to force submission. Such a hold kills action, and came to apply to a stalemate of any kind.
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#52231
01/13/2002 2:45 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Dave Wilton traces this back to a whiskey brand, predating the birth of Norman "Kid McCoy" Selby by almost twenty years. http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorr.htmScroll down to the Real McCoy.
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#52232
01/13/2002 4:12 PM
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688
addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688 |
RE: The Real McCoy
I have to honestly say, I always thought this phrase came from the Hatfield's and McCoy's family feud which started, I believe, in 1863. However, with as many sources as I found to tell me about the feud, most of them using the phrase "The Real McCoy", I cannot find anything to substantiate my belief. Is there anyone out there who can?
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#52233
01/13/2002 6:38 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
In the colloq. phr. the real McCoy (or Mackay, McKie): the ‘genuine article’, the real thing.the OED (the real McCoy) says "Its origin remains uncertain: see, for example, Amer. Speech (1958) XXXIII. 297 f." speculation abounds. American Speech goes with the boxing story; Mencken, in The American Language, says "its origin is disputed. One current etymology connects it with Bill McCoy, an eminent rum-runner in the heyday or Rum Row. Another holds that it comes from the name of Kid McCoy, welter-weight chmapion of the world, 1898-1900...." http://www.cutwater.com/Woodies/Rum/rumruner.htminteresting though it is, OED citations predate the Rum Row story and, perhaps, Kid McCoy. 1883 R. L. Stevenson Lett. to C. Baxter (1956) 123 For society, there isnae sae muckle; but there's myself—the auld Johnstone, ye ken—he's the real Mackay, whatever. 1922 Collier's 7 Oct. 26/2 'At's the real McCoy you got there, brother!+ Comes right down from Canada! 1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 456/2 McCoy, genuine liquor. ‘This is McCoy. You can't fake Quebec wrappers.’ so, the McCoy spelling is first cited during Prohibition. but did RL Stevenson get "Mackay" from somewhere else than just stylin' brogue?
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#52234
01/17/2002 7:45 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Getting back to sporting terms... Can't believe we omitted getting to first base; getting to second base, etc. For non-US'ns who may be unfamiliar with those terms: http://onion.com/onion3801/dating_tips.html; first bulleted item. Gives a whole new meaning to the first two words of Lincoln's Gettysburg address.
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