Three silly pieces

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:30 PM -0400 7/8/10, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>Laurence Horn wrote
>>Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>>   Very quick response from the reporter. I've heard "bigs" before, but,
>>>in this case, it was "a big", which is not in my memory banks.
>>
>>  It should be!  There's been talk for years about playing a big (or
>>  two bigs) against a given player.  "A big" for "a big guy" has been
>>  standard in the NBA (and NCAA men's basketball) for quite a while,
>>  I'd say.  I haven't heard any parallel use of "a small".
>
>This may be an example of a parallel use of small(s):

Indeed.  But look what happened to the Sonics!*

I should have googled "bigs" and "smalls" (since searching "a
big/small" doesn't do much good, for obvious reasons).  But even
then, "smalls" runs into too many last names, from "Biggie Smalls" on
down.  "Smalls" + NBA does a better job, pulling e.g. this proposal
for divvying up categories for all-star game selections:

===========
http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/art_garcia/01/24/allstar.proposal/index.html
Bigs and smalls: This has been recommended plenty in recent years,
especially with the dearth of true centers. (Bethlehem Shoals wrote
about it last week.) There would only be two voting categories, with
two players starting in the backcourt and three up front.
This would eliminate silly arguments, such as whether to place Duncan
at center or forward. He was listed at center on the paper ballot in
2007-08 before the Spurs successfully lobbied to move him back to
forward. Anyone who watches basketball knows Duncan plays center, but
that's another column.
...
The game has evolved, with quickness and skill blurring positional
lines. Are there enough traditional centers in the game to warrant an
entire category? Many teams play with two smalls and three bigs,
anyway. Why not vote that way?
===========

"bigs" does seem much more robust than "smalls", though.


>
>Sonics Get Healthier at Wednesday's Practice
>Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM
>January 2, 2008
>
>"It gives us a matchup against smaller, quicker teams. Some teams play
>two smalls in general - these guys (Phoenix), for example, could have
>Leandro (Barbosa) and Steve (Nash) in the game together."
>
>http://www.nba.com/thunder/news/sonics080102.html
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

*They left Seattle and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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