Team Fill-in-the-Blank

Alice Faber faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU
Wed Feb 21 00:56:24 UTC 2007


(originally sent just to Leslie; *why* does this alone of all lists I
subscribe to not set Reply-To to the list???)

Leslie Savan wrote:
>        Does anyone have an idea of when or how this construction began to really catch on?: "Team Obama," "Team Macintosh," "Team Get er Done" on MySpace, "Team Guido" (not the Guido team or the Guidoes) on The Amazing Race. "Team Toyota" is a 1996 book, but surely Team X goes much further back.
>        It undoubtedly got a big boost from businesses trying to stoke as much team spirit as sports teams: "Meet Team Target--Targeting Your Real Estate Needs." But who initiated the switch from the X team to Team X: the businesses? Sports commentators, sports teams themselves? (I know nothing about sports, so this may be obvious to all but me). And/or is there a Superhero connection?
>        Any ideas from Team ADS are much appreciated.
>

This is the normal way of referring to Olympic teams. So, the Olympic
hockey finals might be between Team USA and Team Canada. This locution
also is used in other international tournaments.




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Alice Faber
faber at haskins.yale.edu
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