_wonky_ = "shady"?

[Alice Faber]

On 4/19/12 9:57 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> This just in:
>
> http://goo.gl/IRHeZ
>> Game 5 is Friday night in Pittsburgh, and the Pens will get Craig
>> Adams and James Neal back from suspensions incurred in Sunday's wonky
>> Game 3.
>
> I could sit here with a dictionary for a week and not figure out what
> "wonky" means here. "Inexplicable"? "One only a true fan could love"? I
> have no idea.
>
> For the record--Game 3 was won by Philadelphia Flyers. If featured a
> large number of penalties, including some of the dirty varyiety, that
> merited three Pittsburgh suspensions by the league. Even given this
> information, I'm not sure how it was "wonky". But one thing it wasn't is
> "shady".

Wonky is most definitely the wrong description for that game.
Pittsburgh's play outright dirty and the officiating was a travesty.
Something that's wonky is a little off. (The player who's quoted in that
story as calling the game "a little off" isn't a native speaker of
English, though it was the ESPN writer, who normally has a good feel for
the language--both hockey and English--who translated that to "wonky".)

--
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Alice Faber                                       faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                            tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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