hacker

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/29/2010 12:11 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>  Six of one, half a dozen of the other. I cannot answer that question
>definitively, of course, but I would like to note that only a couple of
>nicknames have "basket-brawl" implications. Some of the rest are
>variations on the names (Prouncer, Rocky Stocky), but the rest have
>neither connection.

I think more of the nicknames may have a basketball or sports
connection, taking off sometimes from the player's name, although of
course I cannot prove my suppositions:
      Easy Uno = easy one; a foul shot is one point.
      Iron Man = someone with endurance.
      Rocky Stocky
      Waban Wrecker
      Bonus Baby = extra point for foul shot after being fouled in
act of shooting but making the shot (and there are probably many
other possibilities).
      Killer = kills his shot (analagous to volleyball), and other
possibilities.
      Prouncer = pouncer, aggressive on defense.
      The Stilt = ... well, see "Wilt the Stilt".

>For my part, I doubt that this use of the verb
>"hack" has been around before the 1970s, but there is nothing scientific
>about this claim.

A very quick look:

Howard Liss, _Basketball Talk for Beginners_, 1970 (GB snippet,
unverified; dated [1970] by WorldCat).
"HACK To chop down on a player's wrists or forearms as he attempts to
shoot for the basket. If the shooter scores, ... not score because of
the hack, then he is awarded two shots from the free-throw line."

Unfortunately, this is not held by Harvard; the closest to me is in
Montpelier (CUNY has it, however -- hint, hint).

Joel



>>At 7/28/2010 07:56 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>>The Tech, vol. 78:9. March 11, 1958
>>>Basket-Brawl Game Planned For Faculty Early This Spring. p. 6/1
>>>>Last year's game, won by the Science-Administration five, featured
>>>>such Tech notables as "Easy Uno" Ingard, Dean "White Bucks" Speer,
>>>>Nicholas "Iron Man" Grant, Dean William "Hacker" Holden, "Rocky
>>>>Stocky" Stockmayer, Mal "Waban Wrecker" Kispert, Joseph "Bonus Baby"
>>>>Synder, Charles "Killer" Miller, Rog "Prouncer" Prouty, and John "The
>>>>Stilt" Murphy. The officials included President Killian, Deans Rule
>>>>and Fassett, Dr. Stratton and Dean Thresher.
>>Joel
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org