[Ads-l] Olympics-related WOTY? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> What is this from? The goat of Azazel?

There was a short discussion of the early use of "goat" in the sports
domain in the article that Ben Yagoda linked. Gerald Cohen was
skeptical of the connection to scapegoat.

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/07/goat.html

[Begin excerpt]
Dickson notes that most explanations for the origin of the baseball
usage describe it as a clipped form of "scapegoat" that refers "to a
player whose error is being blamed for a team's defeat."

However, he points out that one language researcher, Gerald L. Cohen,
challenged this theory in the Dec. 1, 1985, issue of Comments on
Etymology.

"A scapegoat is innocent, whereas the goat is not; he has blundered,
usually at a crucial moment," Cohen writes. "And the standard
etymology of 'goat' as a shortening of 'scapegoat' is therefore almost
certainly in error."

He suggests instead that the usage might have been influenced by a
goat used to haul a peanut wagon in the late 19th century. Perhaps,
but we think the erroneous-shortening hypothesis seems more likely.
[End excerpt]

Garson

> On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 5:26 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
>
>> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>>
>> Slightly earlier:
>>
>> _The Sporting Life_ 10 Aug 1907 p 5 col 4
>> "Nick Altrock continues to be the goat. He is the unlucky pitcher of the
>> team this year, and to date has won four games, lost eleven and tied one."
>>
>>
>>
>> > The Grammarphobia notes that goat has been used negatively in sports "as
>> a derisive term for a player responsible for a team’s loss".
>> > Grammarphobia provides an excellent citation via The Dickson Baseball
>> Dictionary (3rd ed.), by Paul Dickson. The citation is dated October
>> > 10, 1909. Here is an instance from a few months earlier:
>> >
>> > Date: April 24, 1909
>> > Newspaper: Denver Post
>> > Newspaper Location: Denver, Colorado
>> > Quote Page 7, Column 4
>> > Database:GenealogyBank
>> >
>> > [Begin excerpt]
>> > It was all a question of luck, which broke the wrong way, as it
>> sometimes will. The Sox inserted their bad breaks in the wrong places, and
>> it
>> > is with grief we announce the blowing up of Pilot Bill. He was the goat
>> all right and is in position to cuss himself good and plenty.
>> > If Bill had not included that cloud-rasping throw in the eighth the
>> champions would not have been able to tie on Doc's wild pitch in the
>> > eleventh.
>> > [End excerpt]
>> >
>> >
>> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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