[Ads-l] "beat-up", noun, evidently meaning hoax or conspiracy

Sat Aug 7 19:27:32 UTC 2021

As GAT suggested, it is tricky trying to find matches with the
appropriate sense. I think the matches below from Australian
newspapers display the pertinent sense of "beat up". (Please
double-check meta-data and text for typos, OCR problems, etc.)

Date: September 3, 1964
Newspaper: The Sydney Morning Herald
Newspaper Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Article: Hospital Site To Be Involved (Continued from page 1)
Quote Page 4, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
"I want to indicate to the honourable member the story as I read it
this morning bears all the earmarks of a beat-up story.
"There is no contemplated plan by the Government for reconstruction of
the present Parliament House"
[End excerpt]

The match below is odd because the Australian reporter seems to be
claiming that the New York mayor Abraham Beame employed an Australian
slang expression.

Date: July 17, 1977
Newspaper: The Sun-Herald
Newspaper Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Article: New York blackout (continued from page 9)
Author: Jack Plummer
Quote Page 44, Column ??
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
When the lights went out everyone including Mayor Beame was saying how
great the people were.
Beame was angry about "Those beat-up" stories of looting. "Only a few,
just a few," he was still saying at midnight.
[End excerpt]

Date: February 3, 1980
Newspaper: The Sun-Herald
Newspaper Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Article: TV: The Angry eye: Which way will Willesee work?
Quote Page 49, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
It will be of great interest to see just which way Mr Willesee casts
his dice in the gamble for ratings.
Will it still be the contrived lunacy of Makin, mixed with the beat-up
consumer stories and local human interest stuff.
Or will Australia's top current affairs host have the courage to move
back to serious TV journalism at a time when most people would expect
and appreciate it?
[End excerpt]

Date: October 16, 1980
Newspaper: The Sydney Morning Herald
Newspaper Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Article: John Howard: Treasurer vs politician
Author: Gregory Bright
Quote Page 9, Column 7
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Then the Treasurer took over: "Thinking this through, it is just an
internal banking matter."
"They're within their rights to do that. It's a pre-election beat-up
(the story), that's what it is." He added: "And Ron's wife's been
ill."
[End excerpt]

Date: September 20, 1982
Newspaper: The Age
Newspaper Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Article: Blues' faith reaps its reward
Author: Geoff Slattery
Quote Page 28, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
The ingredients of this match between Carlton and Hawthorn were
fascinating, even without the media's gleefully beat-up feud. In any
contest, you could not wish for two more dissimilar combatants than
Hawthorn and Carlton.
[End excerpt]

Date: February 17, 1984
Newspaper: The Sydney Morning Herald
Newspaper Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Article: Polls crucial test for both leaders
Author: Peter Kennedy
Quote Page 4, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
The paper added that the media could "beat up a problem for Andrew" if
the Liberals suffered a reverse. But an objective view showed "it is
Hawke who will have the problem if Labor do not obtain a swing."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Aug 7, 2021 at 12:50 PM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com> wrote:
>
> As documented in a 1988 UPI article, "beat-up" is more akin to
> 'overblown' than an outright hoax: "beat-up (something blown out of
> proportion)".
>
> 28 Feb 1988, "Australia's baffling language: A primer on 'Aussie speak'":
>
> https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/02/28/Australias-baffling-language-A-primer-on-Aussie-speak/8697573022800/
>
> On 8/7/21 9:17 AM, George Thompson wrote:
> > This is from a story by Katharine Murphy originating in Australia, in
> > the Guardian
> > website, dated Friday, August 6.
> > Checking the internet for this sense seems hopeless, since it is hidden
> > among the multitude of occurrences of the more common senses -- if it's
> > there at all.
> >
> > Interesting to see that our antipodean cousins are regaled with the same
> > malarky as we are.
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > Politicians report they are copping it from both sides – from constituents
> > who support the public health response, but fear the government has
> > buggered up the vaccination rollout.  MPs are also copping it from
> > constituents who think the pandemic is a beat-up or a conspiracy of some
> > kind, and from their traditional supporters who think centre-right
> > governments should not be shuttering businesses and spending like there is
> > no tomorrow.
> >
>
> --
> James Eric Lawson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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