not new, but new to me: _Trivalry_

Tue Jun 7 21:19:06 UTC 2011

Here are a few more selected citations for trivalry and tri-rivalry in
chronological order.

In 1910 the term "tri-rivalry" was used to fill the niche that
"trivalry" is now attempting to fill. Based on a quick survey of a few
databases the use of the term "tri-rivalry" remained infrequent.

Cite: 1910, The Captain of the Amaryllis by Stoughton Cooley, Page 84,
The C.M. Clark Publishing Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google
Books full view)

Basel Mollison himself was uncertain as to the progress of his suit.
The unexpected change from a dual contest, which he had hitherto been
waging, to the tri-rivalry - for he had no doubt that Ingram was
acting for himself - set his plans awry.

http://books.google.com/books?id=aDsmAAAAMAAJ&q=tri-rivalry#v=snippet&

In 1956 the term "trivalries" was used in a newspaper in Lebanon,
Pennsylvania. Inspection of the image scan indicates that "trivalries"
is the printed word and not an OCR error. However, it is likely that
"trivalries" was a misprint for "rivalries". The article containing
"trivalries" did refer to some groupings of three competing teams, but
it also referred to pairs of competing teams and groups larger than
three. The article did not signal that "trivalries" was a new or
uncommon word.

Cite: 1956 January 12, Lebanon Daily News, Upsala New Gridiron Foe for
F & M Diplomats, Page 36, Column 6, Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
(NewspaperArchive)

The Diplomats next fall will meet Dickinson, Muhlenberg and Gettysburg
once again in a renewal of trivalries that date back to before the
turn of the century. The F and M - Gettysburg game, which will climax
the home season here, is one of the oldest in the United States.

Here is an instance of "tri-rivalry" in 1975.

Cite: 1975 April 24, St. Joseph Gazette, Golf's Tri-rivalry In
Spotlight Today, Page 2B, St. Joseph, Missouri. (Google News Archive)

Headline: Golf's Tri-rivalry In Spotlight Today.

The rivalry among Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Toni Weiskopf,
which produced that thrilling, dramatic finish in the Masters, resumes
today in the first round of the $200,000 Tournament of Champions.

In 2001 the word "trivalry" was used in the title of an article about
an Ironman triathlon event

Cite: 2001 May 20, San Diego Union-Tribune, Sibling Trivalry Brothers
DeBoom realize dream, blow away field for first 1-2 finish by Don
Norcross, Section Sports, Page C-1, San Diego, California. (NewsBank)

Headline: Sibling Trivalry Brothers DeBoom realize dream, blow away
field for first 1-2 finish

On their training rides through the mountains near Boulder, Colo., Tim
and Tony DeBoom permit themselves to dream. About riding single file
ahead of an Ironman triathlon pack. About running side by side. About
finishing 1-2. Said Tim: "We've talked about it for years." Yesterday,
the brothers realized that dream.

(End excerpt; Punctuation unaltered)

I believe that the phrase "sibling trivalry" was used by the headline
writer as a form of word play evoking an association with "sibling
rivalry". The prefix "tri" was used as a nod toward the "tri" in
"triathlon", and it was not used to refer to three competitors.

Also in 2001 "trivalry" was used with its most common current meaning.
This example was posted on the AD list earlier.

Cite: 2001, The complete idiot's guide to football, 2nd Edition, by
Joe Theismann with Brian Tarcy, Page 314, Penguin, New York. (Google
Books preview)

Then, the Green Bay Packers joined the duo in a battle for supremacy
of the NFC. And for a while, the rivalry was really a trivalry.

The 2005 the term "tri-rivalry" continued in use in parallel with "trivalry".

Cite: 2005, Pitt: 100 Years of Pitt Basketball by Sam Sciullo, Page
25, Sports Publishing LLC. (Google Books preview)

The following year, Pitt claimed its first “City of Pittsburgh
Championship” in its tri-rivalry with Duquesne and Carnegie Tech.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Bn_WIdKtD68C&q=tri-rivalry#v=snippet&

In 2007 "trivalries" was used in the headline of an article on the
topic of rivalries in Ironman triathlon competitions. Once again the
prefix "tri" was a reference to the "tri" in "triathlon". The
rivalries discussed involved pairs of competitors. This author also
wrote the article mentioned above about triathlons.

Cite: 2007 February 2, San Diego Union-Tribune, Outstanding &
outspoken JUST CALL THEM "TRIVALRIES" by Don Norcross, Section Sports,
Page D-2, San Diego, California. (NewsBank)

Chris McCormack and Normann Stadler might develop a bitter Ironman
rivalry, but they have a ways to go before their feud turns legendary.
A look at Ironman triathlon's best rivalries:

In 2007 a UK newspaper suggested that "trivalry" was a "silly word".

Cite: 2007 August 27, The Times (UK), Murray out to show British are
not all retiring types by Neil Harman, London, England. (Times Online
database accessed 2011 June 7)

For, in the men’s game, two has become three. The Americans, as is
their wont, have invented a silly word for it — a “trivalry”. At the
start of the year, it was foolhardy to expect someone other than
Federer or Nadal to become a grand-slam champion — although there was
hope that Murray would figure in one or two shake-ups. Everyone’s
peace has been disturbed by six months of irrepressible tennis from
Novak Djokovic.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article2332261.ece

On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 9:38 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: not new, but new to me: _Trivalry_
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I suggested the trio as one such motivation, although I was not implying
> that anyone actually referred to it as "trivalry".
>
> However, with respect to Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, the term has been
> around for some time and Carillo was simply applying what was already known.
> Consider Wiki on Federer:
>
> Experts such as John McEnroe have said that this is the beginning of a new
>> change in tennis and have coined the current situation "The Trivalry"
>> between Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer.
>
>
> I suppose, one could backtrack the changes since Wiki keeps track of all of
> them, but I won't be the one doing it, especially since the term is not new.
> But the "trivalry" for this bunch has been termed as such at least since the
> late 2007.
>
> Another sports "trivalry" thus termed is between Florida, Florida State and
> Miami football teams (also in 2007). Having exhausted all GB and GNA hits
> (minus an assortment of "tri-valley" and "trivalley" hits that threw major
> interference), these are the only three that I was able to spot--the one
> that Garson mentioned from a 2001 book, a comment on Florida football teams
> in 2007 and the battle between Djokovic, Nadal and Federer almost
> immediately after that. There might be others but these are the ones that
> are documented.
>
> VS-)
>
> On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 8:39 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
>>
>> At 4:36 PM -0400 6/5/11, victor steinbok wrote:
>> >Lendl (1978-94), McEnroe (1978-92) and Connors (1972-96),
>>
>> I see that my term *motivating* was perniciously ambiguous.  They (or
>> maybe US/USSR/China, or various golfing triads, or poets, or
>> automakers back in the Big Three era, or whatever) may have provided
>> sufficient motivation for the term of 'trivalry' to apply to them,
>> but apparently not sufficient for the term to have been actually
>> coined.  Wonder if Garson's 2001 NFL example (ah, remember the NFL?)
>> was the first.  Sports contexts do seem the most likely, somehow.
>>
>> LH
>
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