"sloppy seconds"

[Alice Faber]

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> a while back, but still of linguistic interest.  (pointed out to me,
> separately, by Victor Steinbok and Jonathan Falk.)
>
> first the story...
>
> Avery suspended indefinitely for comments related to ex-girlfriends
> ESPN.com news services
>
> Updated: December 3, 2008, 6:29 PM ET
>
> [Sean] Avery was punished indefinitely by commissioner Gary Bettman
> for using a crude term about his former girlfriends now dating other
> hockey players. Bettman acted within hours, in time to keep Avery out
> of the Dallas Stars' game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.
>
> Avery's inflammatory line came following a morning skate in Calgary,
> Alberta. Reporters were waiting to speak with Avery about disparaging
> remarks he'd made last month about Flames star Jarome Iginla when
> Avery walked over to the group and asked if there was a camera
> present. When told there was, he said, "I'm just going to say one
> thing."
>
> "I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada," the Ontario
> native said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common
> thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I
> don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight." He then
> walked out of the locker room.
>
> Avery's ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert of the television show
> "24" and the movie "Old School," is dating Calgary defenseman Dion
> Phaneuf; she had been romantically linked to Mike Komisarek of the
> Montreal Canadiens. Avery also dated Rachel Hunter, the former Sports
> Illustrated swimsuit cover model and actress who is now the girlfriend
> of Los Angeles Kings center Jarret Stoll.
>
> .....
>
> then, of course, the apology (though not directly to the ex-
> girlfriends or the players they are now dating)...
>
> Stars LW Avery issues apology for televised comments about ex-
> girlfriends
> Associated Press
>
> Updated: December 4, 2008, 1:22 AM ET
>
>
> DALLAS -- Suspended Dallas Stars agitator Sean Avery flew to New York
> on Wednesday for a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and
> gave a likely sample of what he'll say by apologizing for comments
> about his former girlfriends.
>
> "I would like to sincerely apologize for my off-color remarks to the
> press yesterday from Calgary," Avery said. "I should not have made
> those comments and I recognize that they were inappropriate.
>
> "It was a bad attempt to build excitement for the game, but I am now
> acutely aware of how hurtful my actions were. I caused unnecessary
> embarrassment to my peers as well as people I have been close with in
> the past [possibly an indirect reference to the other players and
> Avery's former girlfriends they dated].
>
> "I apologize for offending the great fans of the NHL, the
> commissioner, my teammates, my coaching staff and the Dallas Stars
> management and ownership. As many of you know, I like to mix it up on
> and off the ice from time to time, but understand that this time I
> took it too far."
>
> .....
>
> several things to comment on here, in particular the gravity with
> which Avery's crude talk was treated by the NHL brass and the lameness
> of the apology (though lame apologies like this one pretty much follow
> a script, as we've noted many times on Language Log).  but my main
> interest is in Avery's use of "sloppy seconds".

I have no quarrels with the etymological info snipped below. As a hockey
fan (well, to be honest, as a hockey junky), I just want to add that
what got Avery suspended was more a pattern of behavior than simply this
one instance. Immediately before he made these remarks, he'd told his
coach that he wasn't going to speak to the media, and apparently he'd
had repeated meetings with the commissioner about behavior issues. If
this were the only blot on Avery's copybook, he'd not have been
suspended; pleading no contest to spousal abuse doesn't get a player a
suspension, for instance.

--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                        fax (203) 865-8963

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