"goat rodeo"

[Grant Barrett]

I have an entry for "goat rope," a similar term:

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/goat_rope/

If I were to revise that entry today, I would separate out the "goat rodeo" citation and make it a separate entry.

Grant Barrett
grantbarrett at gmail.com



On Feb 17, 2012, at 06:20, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> Referring to the struggle among the candidates in the Republican
> primaries, John Avlon of The Daily Beast closes his article with
> "This goat rodeo is going to go on for a long time. Bet on it."
> http://news.yahoo.com/gops-primary-calendar-chaos-094500587.html
>
> Not in the OED yet.  One definition in Urban Dictionary is "A chaotic
> situation, often one that involves several people, each with a
> different agenda/vision/perception of what's going on; a situation
> that is very difficult, despite energy and efforts, to instill any
> sense or order into."  About 1,800,000 Google Everything hits, some
> false positives.  About 152 in GBooks, including some which are
> literally goat rodeos and one being a company selling video displays
> (in the year 2000).
>
> Earliest in GBooks looks like 2001.
>
> Sharkman Six, by Owen West, p. 62:  "I'm also hoping that he is fast
> understanding what a goat rodeo it became down here, re- porters sent
> to a potentially dangerous landing beach by the NSA before we even
> arrived."  [Apparently about Vietnam.]
>
> Another 2001 puts "goat rodeo" among games such as volleyball and
> touch football.
>
> I'm imagining the roundup at a cat rodeo -- or cat-tle drive.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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