"springboard" the verb

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Feb 3 03:09:45 UTC 2012


On Feb 2, 2012, at 9:56 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> I don't understand a word of what you mean.
> 
> I only see springboard used to mean 'to accelerate rapidly'. I don't
> see any context that gives a meaning of ripping off or stealing.
> 
> What am I missing??
> DanG

In the posting cited below,

>>>> Well, I only took stuff from your videos, so
>>>> since it's "my idea" that I sprungboard off your stuff,…

I had inferred that the writer was defending himself (I'm assuming it's a him) against the charge of ripping ideas off the respondent, i.e. by springboarding off him.  But I just checked the full(er) context, and I confess I have no idea what it's all about.


LH  
=============
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=F-HTRz_9vps
BohepansTheThird 2 years ago

You stole my Bike, Tigger! You shouldn't have stolen my bike!! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET! INTO THE -LAVA-!! (We'll just pretend the bike crash led to a Syobon Action-style lava death.) *insert Mario death knell here*

BohepansTheThird 2 years ago

@BohepansTheThird Well, I only took stuff from your videos, so since it's "my idea" that I sprungboard off your stuff, you could elaborate what I "started" into something where Tigger is tortured for his crimes of bike-stealing.  Maybe a court tribunal by the King, losing his promotion, no idea.

============


> 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: "springboard" the verb
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Maybe "ripping off" would be more accurate than "stealing", if you have the same nuances (and register restrictions) that I do between the two.
>> Not all springboarding (or even prototypical springboarding) involves ripping-off, of course, since there can be different scenarios for picking/taking up where someone else left off.
>> 
>> LH
>> 
>> On Feb 2, 2012, at 12:22 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>> 
>>> Sorry, where does "stealing" come into use?
>>> DanG
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 12:02 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>>> Subject:      Re: "springboard" the verb
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> A couple of things I notice:
>>>> 
>>>> Not in the OED as a verb.
>>>> 
>>>> At 2/2/2012 11:30 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>>> used by Sean Salisbury, former NFL quarterback
>>>>> and now commentator, on his practicing some
>>>>> training regime:  "It's only in the last few months that I've sprungboard…"
>>>>> 
>>>>> A bit reminiscent of "sleptwalked", only here
>>>>> it's only the first element that's inflected; it
>>>>> was clear he didn't say "sprungboarded".  (Maybe
>>>>> it's partly that "board" sounds like a past or participial form already?)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Googling "sprungboard", I do find a couple of
>>>>> analogous uses on the first page, albeit with
>>>>> simple past tense forms rather than participials (not that it matters):
>>>>> 
>>>>> ============
>>>>> Well, I only took stuff from your videos, so
>>>>> since it's "my idea" that I sprungboard off your stuff,...
>>>> 
>>>> An extended use -- "springboarding" is "taking
>>>> off from", perhaps sometimes with the added connotation of "stealing"?
>>>> 
>>>> Joel
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Now a couple of my friends that have done it
>>>>> have lost a ton of weight, but didn't build any
>>>>> muscle - so they sprungboard off the p90x to crossfit.
>>>>> ============
>>>>> In fact (I wasn't listening closely), Salisbury
>>>>> himself may have been referring to P90X himself,
>>>>> but in any case it was a regime of that type.
>>>>> 
>>>>> LH
>>>>> 
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>> 
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> 
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