filthy

[Jonathan Lighter]

1911 _Fort Wayne Sentinel_ (March 14) 8: The pitcher had a mighty wicked
fast ball.
2006  _Baseball America Prospect Handbook_ (Durham, N.C.: Baseball America)
244: His filthy slider sits near 88 mph with good tilt.

(2006 sounds seems influenced by wine-tasting magazines.  I like "sits near
88 mph.")

NewspArch yields only one ex. of "filthy slider," from 2008.

JL
On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 8:57 AM, 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: filthy
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I suspect, in these parts, it might be translated as "wicked".
>
>      VS-)
>
> On 10/26/2012 8:45 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Isn't a slider "filthy" because it's specifically sneaky or tricky rather
> > than broadly "cool" or "sweet"?
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 2:16 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
> > I've heard it too, but 1) not in baseball (I don't follow baseball,
> > generally, and only watched the last inning today); 2) it's not
> > documented. I'm not claiming primacy in any way, but the usage should be
> > on the record. As for (1), think of the emotionally positive use of
> > "filthy rich".
> >
> >       VS-)
>
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