the over-under is....

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 18, 2012, at 11:49 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> Speaking of betting terms, Ihave seen a dilution of the term "odds-on" in
> describing "favorite".
>
> I know the term from horse race betting, where it referred to a horse with
> even odds or better, ie, a 50% or better chance to win.
>
> I have seen it used as a synonym for strong, used to describe multiple
> favorites in a competition:
>
> http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1022579-the-top-ten-odds-on-favorites-to-capture-the-2012-australian-open-crown
>
> The Top 10 Odds-On Favorites to Capture the 2012 Australian Open Crown
>
> DanG

Ouch!  That one is a SOTA even for me!  I guess it's a natural weakening, like "majority" being used for "plurality", but that doesn't mean we have to like it.

LH


>
>
> On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 11:30 AM, George Thompson <gt1 at nyu.edu> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       George Thompson <gt1 at NYU.EDU>
>> Subject:      the over-under is....
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "Over-under" is a sports gambling term seemingly not in the recently
>> revised "O" section of the OED.  It is a common betting proposition in
>> football: the Pope of bookmakers sets a number, and the suckers bet on
>> whether the final score of the two teams, combined, in the game will
>> be over or under that number.  In making the bet, the sucker takes the
>> over or the under.
>>
>> It has passed from referring to a literal betting proposition to a
>> figurative sense.
>>
>> Searching the Proquest newspapers for "over under" turned out to be
>> unprofitable, since that sequence in other contexts is far more common
>> than I would have thought.
>> Searching for "over under is" takes it back to September 24, 1979, in
>> the Chicago Tribune:
>> "Latest line.  Favorite Dallas, Points 3 Underdog Cleveland.
>> Over-Under: 39  Over-Under is the betting line on the total number of
>> points scored by the two teams in the game, over or under the line
>> figure."
>> In the LA Times, December 28, 1980, Jim Murray made plans to teach his
>> new granddaughter that "over-under is a sucker bet", along with a
>> number of other bits of no doubt hard-earned wisdom.
>> By 1987, Tony Kornheiser was using it in other contexts, as for
>> instance, the Washington Redskins line coach favors very big men, with
>> 300 lbs as the over-under.  (not a verbatim quote).
>>
>> A report in the NYTimes Business Section today marks the first time I
>> have noticed this expression in the mouth (or from the fingers) of
>> someone not a sportswriter.  The first time noticed in the NYTimes,
>> too, for that matter: I have mainly encountered it in the sports
>> section of the [NY] Daily News.
>> From a story about Warren Buffett's announcement that he has developed
>> prostate cancer: "“Go to any actuarial table; a healthy, stress-free
>> 81-year-old has a 12-year life expectancy, and I’ll take the over on
>> that,” said Whitney Tilson, the managing partner at T2 Partners and a
>> Berkshire shareholder."  (NYTimes, April 18, 2012, B Section, p. 1,
>> col. 6)
>>
>> No doubt the old wisecrack regarding an ill-matched marriage, "I give
>> it six months" is now, in some circle, being expressed as "I put the
>> over-under at six months".
>>
>> GAT
>>
>> George A. Thompson
>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a new edition,
>> though.
>>
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