buck -- more antedatings (UNCLASSIFIED)

Tue Oct 26 17:15:47 UTC 2010

Neat.  Those mid-1980s ones are certainly earlier than I remember the
extended "buck"s from.  And "the Interstate" for batting averages
between .100 and .200 is a new one on me.  (I'm used to such averages
being "south of the Mendoza line", in honor of Mario Mendoza, a
weak-hitting infielder who was always flirting with the
(unimpressive) .200 threshold.) Beyond the negative implications of
weights, distances, and batting averages in the buck-plus-a-little
range, there's the quite positive implication of ERAs (earned run
averages) as a measure of pitchers' efficacy. The lower the ERA the
better, so in this excerpt from a blog on the Milwaukee Brewers last
March (spring training)--

It doesn't mean he won't get hit once the team moves up north, but it
also doesn't mean he's going to go through the season with an ERA of
11. It's also probably a good bet that Parra won't go through the
season with an ERA of a buck and a half.

--alludes to to the unlikelihood that *any* pitcher (much less the
non-eminent Manny Parra) could end up with an earned run average in
the 1.50 range.  (Well, sometimes relievers with relatively few
innings might manage it...)  I suspect the pitchers' buck fifties are
much more recent than the hitters' buck fifties.

LH

At 10:48 AM -0500 10/26/10, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>The batting sense:
>
>The Orange County Register - Monday, April 11, 1988 p d01 (Newsbank)
>"If he hits a buck-ninety and keeps making plays like that, he's
>valuable."
>
>
>_THE SEATTLE TIMES_ - Tuesday, May 13, 1986 p F1 (Newsbank)
>"I've never batted a buck -twenty (.120) in my life."
>
>_Chicago Tribune_ - Tuesday, April 2, 1985 p 3 (Newsbank)
>"I mean, I could go to Glens Falls and hit a buck (.100)."
>
>
>_Syracuse Herald American_, 7/31/1983 p d-4 col 3 (Newspaperarchive)
>"I had planned on spending the whole summer in Louisville, but I'm sure
>if I was hitting a buck eighty (.180), they might not have traded
>Hernandez and I wouldn't be in St. Louis."
>
>_The Washington Post_ (DC) - Sunday, August 8, 1982 p M2 (Newsbank)
>" "I'd signed a new contract," he said, "and was hitting a buck
>-ninety." "
>
>And I ran across this odd use of "interstate" while searching:
>
>_The Miami Herald_  (FL) - Thursday, February 18, 1993 p 4ST (Newsbank)
>"Interstate: When a batter's average falls between .100 and .200 (named
>for highways such as I-75, I-95). Also, a buck and change ."
>
>
>The time sense (one minute):
>
>_Taunton Daily Gazette_ (MA) - Sunday, February 3, 2008 no page # listed
>(Newsbank)
>" With a buck and change left in the first half, Brady found David
>Givens on the right side of the end zone to tie the game."
>
>Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Saturday, October 31, 2009 p T08
>(Newsbank)
>"Redwood senior playmaker Jeff Davis caught 10 balls for 80 yards and
>touchdown, ran for 28 yards for a clinching score with a buck and change
>left and recovered a fumble in the end zone on defense."
>
>
>Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Thursday, December 24, 2009 p T11
>(Newsbank)
>" Hershey got to within 3-1 in the third, but a pair of late goals by CV
>-- including an empty-netter with a buck and change left -- kept the
>defending champs at bay. "
>
>Distance sense (100 yards):
>
>Harrisonburg VA _Daily News Record_ 10/3/2005 p 19 col 2
>(Newspaperarchive)
>"Saturday, he was the designated runner on "read option" and cruised for
>a buck sixty-three on only 17 carries."
>
>
>Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Tuesday, October 29, 2002 p F02
>(Newsbank)
>"Take a bow, Donovan McNabb.  He ran for a buck -eleven."
>
>
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>Behalf Of
>>  Ben Zimmer
>>  Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 12:46 AM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Re: buck?
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>----------------------
>>  -
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: buck?
>>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>------
>>  -
>>
>>  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."
>>...

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