Fwd: Re: [19cBB] Three Times Three a Tiger?--(message #2)

[Gerald Cohen]

>To: <19cBB at yahoogroups.com>
>From: "Dean Thilgen" <vbbdeano at myinfmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [19cBB] Three Times Three a Tiger ?
>
>Now you are venturing into vintage base ball territory. :)
>
>A tiger is not just an animal, but also part of a cheer, as defined
>in this 1913 dictionary:
>http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=Tiger
>"4. A kind of growl or screech, after cheering; as, three cheers and
>a tiger. [Colloq. U.S.]"
>
>Civil War reenactors, and now vintage base ballists, have been
>debating "three cheers and a tiger" for some time. Were the cheers
>"hurrah" or "huzzah"? I have heard the argument that a synonym for
>"cheer" is "huzzah" and the cheer shouted was "hurrah," but yet,
>song lyrics of the day have both. Midwestern 1860 vintage base ball
>typically just shouts three "huzzahs" without the tiger. Mr.
>Hunkele's club in Michigan has been enlightening us with a true
>"three cheers and a tiger" at the games of the Sterling Base Ball
>Club.
>
>I am guessing that this usage, "three time three a tiger," was an
>especially jubilant version.
>
>Deano Thilgen
>