Media inquiry: "a hop, skip and a jump"

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Brendan O'Connor kindly replied to my question about whether the interview mentioned below was ever published:
"It will appear in our next issue, along with quotes from our emails regarding etymology of term. It's for recurring feature we do called Answer Guy where emphasis is on how we manage to get the answer as opposed to answer itself. ..."

Gerald Cohen                                                                                                                                                gcohen at mst.edu

________________________________

From: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Sent: Wed 7/23/2008 3:20 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Cc: Brendan.OConnor at espn3.com; bapopik at aol.com
Subject: Re: Media inquiry: "a hop, skip and a jump"


My thanks to Brendan O'Connor for his reply just below, viz. that the suspected creek-crossing rationale for "a hop, ski/step and a jump" (a short distance) was voiced in an interview with Penn Relays director Dave Johnson.  Might I now ask Mr. O'Connor whether that interview was ever published.

Gerald Cohen
gcohen at mst.edu

________________________________

From: OConnor, Brendan [mailto:Brendan.OConnor at espn3.com]
Sent: Wed 7/23/2008 10:46 AM
To: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Subject: Re: Media inquiry: "a hop, skip and a jump"


That comes from interview with Dave Johnson, director of the Penn Relays. It's really his educated guess. Apparently sport is Irish in origin, dating back to ancient Tailteann Games, precursors to Highlands games in Scotland. Another source, Seán Kane, of the Irish Museum and Cultural Center, supported the idea of soldiers doing a "triple jump" as part of their training.



On 7/22/08 6:23 PM, "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:



        Below is Mr. O'Connor's reply: The crossing of creeks (via a hop, skip and jump) provides the rationale for the sporting event.  Might I now ask Mr. O'Connor where he came across this rationale for the sporting event.

        Gerald Cohen

        <snip>

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