ribbie = RBI (1956) (was Re: eggcorn)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 16 May 2005 22:58:35 -0400, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
wrote:

>>"Ribbies" has been in use for decades in NYC baseball reporting.
>
>And, as mentioned, not just in NYC.  It's been a standard
>pronunciation of RBIs generally for some time.

-----
1956 _Tri City Herald_ (Pasco, Wash.) 3 Jun. 8/1 This time, Tom wasn't
even anxious to have the game called. "I got a ribbie tonight," he said,
"let's play the thing."
-----
1956 _Tri City Herald_ (Pasco, Wash.) 12 Aug. 8/8 Three walks and a single
brought in all the runs VFW needed. The single was hit by Ralph Wade, who
got a total of three ribbies, and a triple.
-----
1957 _Hammond Times_ (Ind.) 28 Aug. D1/1 Maybe it's from atom fallout ...
Asiatic flu ... Or possibly, our young men are more inventive these days
... In any event, baseball announcers usually refer to them as
runs-batted-in ... or, when they're so pushed for time they need to whack
off a syllable, they merely say R-B-I's ... But now WIND'S Jack Quinlan,
finishing fast on the outside in the race for forced humor honors, calls
them "ribbies."
[ellipses in original]
-----


--Ben Zimmer