buck?

[Victor Steinbok]

Not an earlier cite, but check out Yahoo Answers at http://yhoo.it/9NutHu

The whole thing starts out with a question:

> What exactly is a "buck two ten"?
> Have you ever heard this phrase? I always wondered what exactly it
> was, whether it be money or a figure of speech, I'm curious.

There are seven answers (one invoking Billy Joel), but none appear to be
satisfactory, including the "best answer", which simply suggests that
"buck" here represents the dollar sign $, so the phrase is simply $2.10.

The most directly relevant part is the last "answer":

> I guess it means a Dollar and twenty cents or 120?
> Ive heard someone say they weigh a buck fifty meaning 150 lbs.
>
> That doesnt sound right.

     VS-)




On 10/25/2010 11:45 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 12:12 AM, Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at yale.edu>  wrote:
>> At 7:39 PM -0400 10/25/10, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>> At 2:57 PM -0400 10/25/10, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>>>> It is covered in HDAS, s.v. _buck_ n. sense 2.e.
>>> And here in an earlier thread (with many examples from athletes
>>> weighing or batting a buck seventy-five).
> The lone HDAS cite for the '100 lb.' sense is from The New York Times,
> 3/3/93, quoting John Starks (of the New York Knicks) on Kenny Anderson
> (of the New Jersey Nets): "Kenny weighs about a buck-60." (Anderson
> suffered a season-ending injury from a Starks foul.)
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/03/sports/pro-basketball-starks-is-fined-but-isn-t-banned.html
>
> Some antedatings:
>
> 1985 _Baton Rouge State Times_ 14 Mar. 3-F (Factiva) Murphy was
> convinced his alleged homophobia had been instrumental in the
> establishment of San Francisco's Kill Eddie Murphy Foundation and that
> he can handle any complaints should Michael Jackson want to be
> starting something. "He only weighs a buck and five pounds. I don't
> care."
>
> 1989 _Sacramento Bee_ 21 Nov. D5 (NewsBank) When other teams see him,
> they say, "I hope he plays me; I'll go for 30," Anders said. He
> doesn't look like he weighs a buck-oh-five, but he's a point guard in
> his heart.
>
> 1989 _Worcester Telegram&  Gazette_ 25 Nov. 15 (Factiva) "The only
> reason I didn't get the ball up," countered Miller, "was that he
> (Kleine) weighs 290 and I weigh a buck-eighty-five. I felt like I got
> hit by Lawrence Taylor."
>
> 1990 _Orlando Sentinel_ 24 Apr. D1 (NewsBank) McKyer quickly made it
> clear he doesn't consider tackling runners part of his responsibility.
> "I weigh a buck seventy-five (175 pounds)," he said. "If you depend on
> your cornerbacks to make tackles, that's part of your problem."
>
> (There's also the song "Vibes and Stuff" by A Tribe Called Quest on
> their classic 1991 album "The Low End Theory," wherein Phife Dawg
> gives the self-description, "Weigh a buck-fifty, 36 waist.")
>
>> As Al Michaels, announcer on Monday Night (now Tuesday Morning)
>> Football just reminded me by saying "A buck 18 left", bucks in
>> sporting contests can also be minutes as well as .100 of batting
>> average or 100 of pounds.  I think it helps to have the second
>> figure--"a buck 18" works better to convey 'one minute 18 seconds'
>> than just "a buck" would do to convey 'one minute'.
> Same goes for weight: the cites above seem to bottom out at "a buck oh five."
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/

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