tonight

[Bob Haas]

Jiminy Cricket!  I can remember the first nighttime broadcast of a World
Series game.  Baseball was such fun in the afternoon.  Hail TV, overlord of
us all.

Let's go eat hot dogs.

bob

> From: Alice Faber <faber at POP.HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 13:52:24 -0400
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: tonight
>
> Disgusting though it is, evening is obviously the unmarked time for a
> baseball game. I watch a lot of baseball and have noticed the same
> usage, and I believe I've also heard it from players in post-game
> interviews (as in "I didn't have my good stuff tonight"). I think
> I've also heard back-tracking corrections (e.g., "starting
> tonight--er, this afternoon will be..."). It occurs to me to wonder
> whether this usage extends to Patriots Day in Boston, when games
> traditionally start in the morning.