getting clobbered/getting skunked

[carljweber]

I had posted about "skunked" not too long ago. While researching Barry
Popik's references on "Windy City," in the Dictionary of Americanisms, I
came across the term "Chicagoed." In the 1890s, Chicago had a team that was
unbeatable. The expression had developed among sportswritters -- "Chicagoed
'em," which meant the other team didn't score. That is my etymology for
"skunked," because as every linguist today knows (especially
McCafferty/Swenson/Vogel) Chicago means "skunk."

Carl Jeffrey Weber
Chicago


----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 1:33 PM
Subject: Re: getting clobbered/getting skunked


> >"Getting skunked" means your team doesn't score at
> >all, to which my own understanding and the ADS-L archives
> >attest. However, on another email list a colleague asserted
> >that "getting clobbered" meant the same thing.
> >
> >I protested that "getting clobbered" merely meant that the
> >score was lopsided, regardless of whether the losing team
> >scored 0 or not, and that "getting skunked" was reserved
> >for scores where the losing team got 0, but now I wonder
> >if I'm not operating under a Canadian regionalism? Would
> >anyone say a team "got skunked" if the score were, say,
> >18-2?
>
> I've encountered "skunk" = "shut out" (zero score on one side) and also
> "skunk" = "clobber" (very lopsided score or so). My handy dictionaries
seem
> to accept both ... the Web M-W 10th Collegiate most strongly or
explicitly,
> I guess:
>
> Main Entry: 2skunk
> Function: transitive verb
> Date: 1843
> 1 a : DEFEAT b : to shut out in a game
> 2 : to fail to pay; also : CHEAT
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>