"underlooked"

[Dennis R. Preston]

Larry,

In hoops, to have a good opportunity to score is to have a "good
look." Announcers regularly say stuff like "X didn't get a lot of
good loooks tonight." If X's teammates didn't get the ball to her
enough (i.e., provide her with enough "touches"), then she wouldn't
be getting many goood looks. Perhaps this usage influenced this funny
"underlooked."

dInIs

>I'm not sure whether it's an eggcorn, a blend, or both.  One of the
>commentators on the NCAA women's basketball tournament was commenting
>on one of the star players for Rutgers who doesn't have that much
>support from her teammates (it's basically a two-(wo)man team) and
>thus doesn't get as much attention for player of the year
>consideration as she might otherwise.  Her comment:
>
>"It's a shame that Cappie Pondexter gets underlooked."
>
>--turns out there are 14,100 raw hits.  Blend of "overlooked" and
>"underXed" (under-recognized, under-appreciated, etc.)?  Or just
>reanalysis via a prefix that seems to fit the semantics better than
>"over-" does?
>
>Larry
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15-C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036
Phone: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755
preston at msu.edu

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org