Re: Re: know the score

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

It never occurred to me that "know the score" could refer to anything EXCEPT 
games. Certainly, the musical connection makes sense, too, and I suppose there 
MAY be some way to find some definitive earliest use that will indicate one 
or the other is historically the most plausible. One could argue against Gerald 
here that playing games is culturally far more important than playing musical 
insturments; therefore, it is far more likely that the term arose in sports 
than in music. Also, Cohen seems to limit the origin of the term to spectators, 
but it seems to me that it is far more likely to be something that would 
apply to participants--and when is actually playing a game (esp. a fast-action 
game such as football or basketball) it is not quite so easy to keep track of the 
score as Cohen suggests. Cohen also totally ignores the potential role of 
irony: "I know the score" is often used to mean "I am NOT stupid!" In addition, I 
would argue that "know the score" has a certain underworldy/slangy feel to it 
that seems not quite right for musicians--and anyway, who memorizes "the 
score"?

But I'm not really arguing for one or the other so much as to argue that 
there may be a sort of pointlessness to "stands to reason" arguments about the 
origins of words.


In a message dated 9/11/04 3:55:11 PM, gcohen at UMR.EDU writes:


>         "To know the score" almost certainly derives from music, because 
> that's
> where "knowing the score" is a bona fide accomplishment, a sign of 
> thoroughly knowing what's going on.  By contrast, anyone paying even minimal attention 
> at a sporting event will have a pretty good idea what the score is. And if  
> there's any doubt, a quick look at the scoreboard will remove it."Knowing the 
> score" at the sporting takes no special talent or effort at all.
> 

> Gerald Cohen
>