cheap shot/dirty play

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 5, 2012, at 8:37 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:

> The hockey meaning of "cheap shot" (and "take a cheap shot" and "cheap hit"--both used in other sports, often associated with "dirty play[er]" or "playing dirty") is not in the OED. And it is now being verbed:
> 
> http://goo.gl/2GHwa
> [Toronto Maple Leaves GM Brian Burke on lack of room on roster for "enforcers"]
>> "If you want a game where guys can cheap shot people and not face retribution, I'm not sure that's a healthy evolution," he said Thursday at an impromptu media conference.
> 
Supporting your point, I've heard "X cheap-shotted Y" on more than one occasion, or "Y got cheap-shotted (on that play)". And of course there's the cheap-shot artist, also not included in the OED entry.

LH

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org