Heisman (was Re: verb eponyms)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:29:19 -0700, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Thanks, Ben.  If the song was nationally known, it must have been a
>powerful vector.  I'm surprised that exx. aren't (or at least weren't
>some years ago) crawling out of the woodwork.

I wouldn't say that the band or the song were *nationally* known (Johnny
Quest only ever released one album on the indie label Blue Dude), but they
did evidently have a strong following in college towns in the Southeast for
a few years. So the song helps explain the popularity of the usage that
Connie Eble noted at UNC, but it's hard to say if it had much more than a
regional effect.

In any case, articles about the band say they got the "Heisman" expression
from their college-age fan base, so it was already floating around the
slangosphere in 1989 when they first recorded the song.


--Ben Zimmer