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Am I the only one who questions the dubious origins given for the term "gonzo?" I harbor great skepticism about folk etymologies, but in this case I'm willing to bet on the origin of this term. It came from the college football season of 1967. The Indiana Hoosiers, long a doormat of the Big Ten conference, came from nowhere to capture national attention. They won game after game with last-minute heroics, led by a previously unknown sophomore quarterback, Harry Gonso. His dare-devil improvisation eventually led to a major feature story by Dan Jenkins in "Sports Illustrated" in the Fall of 1967. The daring exploits of Gonso and his fellow sophomores, John Isenbarger and Jade Butcher, carried them to the Rose Bowl (where they finally lost to Southern California). But by then "Gonso football" was a stock phrase in the college football vocabulary. Hunter S. Thompson may have forgotten where he got the term, but the denotation and connotations of the term fit perfectly with this proposed origin.
(By the way, Harry Gonso is now a respected corporate lawyer in Indianapolis, having served 18 years on the Board of Trustees of Indiana University and being ensconced in the Indiana--and other--footballs Halls of Fame.)
Professor, School of Education, Indiana University
Professor, School of Education, Indiana University
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Welcome, Molenda, and you too, wordjunkie.
I am not a person to answer anything about sports. Sparteye is a great resource for that; and I think this kind of detective work is right up her alley. Re: word origins, tsuwm's our best resource. What say, you two?
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Since Hunter S. Thompson's career seems to bracket Mr. Gonso's fame as a collegiate sports hero I would guess that the latter's name lent itself to being used in this context if the term was used in reference to the former. Just a guess, but it seems less likely to have gone the other way. I've been wrong before. I would say we should be looking for a citation before 1967 to settle the question. Merriam-Webster On Line claims 1971. What about the OnLine OED, O great keeper of the keys?
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well, OED2 goes with the Italian gonzo connection and (after the HST citation) gives this:
1972 in R. Pollack Stop Presses 184, "I ask Hunter to explain... Just what is Gonzo Journalism?.. ‘Gonzo all started with Bill Cardosa,..after I wrote the Kentucky Derby piece for Scanlan's..the first time I realized you could write different. And..I got this note from Cardosa saying, ‘That was pure Gonzo journalism!’.. Some Boston word for weird, bizarre.’"
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And the Kentucky Derby piece dates to 1970.
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the only gonzo i could think of was the muppet character Gonzo.. but he is post 1970-- but the gonzo character was pretty gonzo as i recall
and Prof-- Professor, School of Education, Indiana University have you too, been lurking here? reading and contemplating with out commenting for months?
or have you just gone gonzo?
about 18 months ago, we did a thread (tsuwm started it.. as i recall) on favorite new words.. somehow gonzo didn't make the list... but it should have.. it rolls around the tongue and lips quite nicely.. and is better than bonzi!
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so I says to myself, "surely someone else will have tried to make the connection between gonzo and Gonso before." if she has, it doesn't show up via google.
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Cardoso his own se'f claims it was from the French Canadian gonzeaux, meaning shining path(!). Bel? Any comments?
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What! the shining path
Not another political thread!
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enthusiast
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Gonzo is indeed a funny Italian word. I doesn't mean exactly weird, but "someone who believes everything" so journalism for "gonzi" is allowed to lie, no one will discover lies..
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Thanks for correcting wrong impression I had of the word. I thought it meant extremely low brow.
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I think Emanuela has this right. The word "gonzo" seems to have been around forever, in the sense of literal and OTT. 1967/1970 seems far too recent. I wouldn't argue the etymology, just the age, but if Emanuela is correct it's probably been around for a long time ... FWIW
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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A liiitle late in replying...
I've asked around and nobody has ever hear of the word gonzeaux. I thought it could have been a word that fell out of use in my parents' or grandparents' time, but no. So definitely not French Canadian from the north coast (of St Lawrence river), Montreal or eastern townships. I still have to speak to someone from the Saguenay reagion - which has some unique vocabulary variations.
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Thanks, belM. I didn't think it was Canadien, but I thought I'd ask.
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I still have to speak to someone from the Saguenay reagion - which has some unique vocabulary variations.If'n you want unique French vocabulary variations, listen to me mangle the language, bel! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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