Query: "Winner, winner, chicken dinner"

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:47 AM -0500 5/11/08, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>One of my students has asked me about "Winner, winner, chicken
>dinner" -- something I had never heard of before.   Would anyone
>known anything about it?  I asked my student to e-mail me what he
>had told me so I could forward it accurately to ads-l.  Any
>information/insight about it would be much appreciated.
>
>Gerald Cohen

I don't know about the "at least 20 years" part, but it's been
popularized over the last couple of years (long enough for it to have
become tiresome) by one of the hosts on ESPN's SportsCenter, who uses
it typically as a voice-over accompanying the showing of a walk-off
hit in the bottom of the last inning in a baseball game.

LH

>
>[e-mail from student]:
>
>I'm emailing you the question I had about "Winner, winner, chicken
>dinner."  I was wondering where it arose.  All I know of it is that
>it (the saying) has been used by sportscasters for at least twenty
>years, and that it's well-known enough that there are t-shirts with
>the saying emblazened on them:
>
>http://www.espnshop.com/catalog/productdetail/model_nbr--87439/sku--56729211/cm--GLOBAL%20SEARCH%3A%20KEYWORD%20SEARCH/
>
>I've heard that the origin may have something to do with sports
>betting in the World War Two era, but I haven't found a reputable
>source that acknowledges this.
>
>Thanks,
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org