[Ads-l] "sucker punch" 1910 etc.

[Wilson Gray]

> the punch is aimed at the sucker

That has been my unfortunate, personal experience, having been that sucker.

On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 9:22 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> As I read it, the 1899 "sucker punch" means a foolish one.
>
> In  the later exx., the punch is aimed at the sucker; I believe in 1899 it
> is thrown by thim.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 9:13 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Here is an instance of "sucker punch" in 1899. The context is boxing,
> > but I am not certain of the meaning. Perhaps you have already seen it.
> >
> > Date: June 12, 1899
> > Newspaper: The Buffalo Review
> > Newspaper Location: Buffalo, New York
> > Article: "The King Is Dead, Long Live the King"
> > Quote Page 1, Column 5
> > Database: Newspapers.com
> > https://www.newspapers.com/image/354436445/?terms=%22sucker%2Bpunch%22
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > At times one saw the influence of Daly in the use of the left at close
> > quarters and the effective high block for which made Fitz's right look
> > like a sucker punch. They say that a fighter forgets his pictured
> > attitude when in the ring.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 6:26 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I was asked about "sucker punch." No special knowledge here, but a few
> > notes.
> > > OED has it from 1947. Green's from 1917.
> > > In boxing, a (defensively) high-risk but potentially (offensively)
> > high-payoff lead with a right. Outside of boxing (later? figurative), a
> > sudden, unwarned attack. If it "works," the punchee, a sucker; if not,
> the
> > puncher.
> > >
> > > Aug. 7, 1910 Duluth News-Tribune p. 4 col. 1-2 [AHN]
> > > ....McFarland has excused himself for his showing in that battle
> because
> > he said he did [/] not think a boxer of Bronson's ability would resort to
> > such a "sucker" punch. The result of the bout showed who was the sucker.
> > >
> > > Dec. 9, 1919 Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia) p. 19 col. 6 [N.com]
> > > Benjamin crossed his right, a short punch, less than six inches, as he
> > and Murphy stepped back from the breakaway. Many of the spectators did
> not
> > see the blow that laid the West Philadelphian low. It was a 'sucker
> punch"
> > as Nick Hayes would have it.
> > > [Nick Hayes, the early collocation adopter, was, maybe, a former boxer
> > turned manager and eventually promoter and referee...as they say, out of
> > Philadelphia.]
> > >
> > > Jan. 31, 1926 Greensboro Record (NC)  p. 20 col. 6 [AHN]
> > > Then, with less warning than a swooping hawk, the Frenchman unleashed a
> > swinging right hand. It was what is known in the argot of the ring as a
> > "sucker punch."
> > >
> > > Feb. 20, 1936 The Advertiser (Adelaide, Aus.) p. 9, col. 4
> > > Charley came around, trying to get me to lead a right hand to the body
> > next time I boxed Corbett. That's a sucker punch you know--nobody would
> try
> > it against a fast man.
> > > [For more context:
> > >
> >
> https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74154311?searchTerm=%22sucker%20punch%22&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
> > >
> > > Stephen Goranson
> > > http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> > > Stephen Goranson's Home Page - Duke University<
> > http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/>
> > > Stephen Goranson. goranson "at" duke "dot" edu. Jannaeus.pdf. My paper
> > on the history of Alexander Jannaeus as the Qumran- and Essene-view
> "Wicked
> > Priest" and Judah the Essene as the "Teacher of Righteousness" (3 August
> > 2005 [revised 12 January 2006]; 34 pages), "Jannaeus, His Brother
> Absalom,
> > and Judah the Essene ". Dura-Europos.pdf "7 vs. 8: The Battle Over the
> Holy
> > Day at Dura-Europos"
> > > people.duke.edu
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
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-Mark Twain

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