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
> >
> Waal, can't say as I'm sure.  "to be buffaloed" after all means to be
> flummoxed or intimidated, and obviously derives from the fact that
> the Buffalo Bills football team participated in four consecutive
> Super Bowls, losing each one by increasingly lopsided margins (more
> or less).
>
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On 3-5-02 Carl Jeffrey Weber posted:
It looks like "skunked 'em" might have developed into "Chicagoed" 'em.
Dictionary of Americanisms: 1891 Chicagoed: "equivalent of 'skunked'
or beat out of sight.baseball team. phenomenal successes. Other competing
clubs which ended the game without scoring were said to have been
 Chicagoed."

1840 "skunk of a person."
1850 Amer. Whig. Review: "A severe defeat at a
game of draughts was formerly and probably now is, termed 'a skunk'."
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When I can, soon, I'm going to look back before 1850 to
see how "skunked" may have developed.

Regarding the ProtoAlgonquian /shekaawa/, and how it developed into
"skunk." In Massacusett (eastern Algonquian) the sh became s and the schwa
dropped.
Also in Massachusett, the -aa- became nasalized schwa, and the gender
marker, along
with the extender, dropped. (< John Davis < Mary Hass.)