"can of corn"

[Jonathan Lighter]

See HDAS I, p. 358.

I have heard it only in reference to baseball.

Used by whom in 1896?

JL


On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 5:59 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "can of corn"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Charlie: Here is a link to a discussion of "can of corn" in a Google
> Books preview of "The Dickson Baseball Dictionary" by Paul Dickson
> (Third Edition). I do not know if this link will work for list
> members.
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DceeU7xSLw5kC&q=3D%22can+o+corn%22+#v=3Ds=
> nippet&
>
> Below is a link to a webpage with an explanation of unknow (to me)
> veracity=
> .
>
> Title: Origin of baseball term =E2=80=9Ccan of corn=E2=80=9D
> Date: May 2, 2008
> http://mtcave.blogspot.com/2008/05/origin-of-baseball-term-can-of-corn.html
>
> Below is another link to another webpage with an similar explanations
> of unknown (to me) veracity.
>
> http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=3D7&t=3D18322
>
>
> Page Title: can of corn (baseball term)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> can of corn (baseball term)
>
> Post by Ken Greenwald
> Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:50 am
>
> Ralph, You make it sound as if we are going to guess. We only give
> definitive answers around here. (<:)
>
> CAN OF CORN: An easily played fly ball. Reported to have originated
> with the grocer=E2=80=99s practice in the early 1900s of storing cans of
> co=
> rn
> on a high shelf. When a grocer needed one, he=E2=80=99d simply tip it
> forwa=
> rd
> with a rod or a broom handle so that it would tumble easily into his
> waiting hands.
>
> (The Language of Sport by Tim Considine)
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> can of corn (baseball term)
>
> Post by Ken Greenwald
> Wed Sep 14, 2005 2:10 pm
> Gentlemen, Here=E2=80=99s what the 'Answer Guy' from the Seattle
> Post-Intelligencer had to say:
>
> Monday, July 30, 2001
> Answer Guy: Getting inside a 'CAN OF CORN'
>
> Q: Ever since I was a little kid, I've heard a lazy fly ball referred
> to as a "can of corn." Where did this odd little phrase originate?
>
> AG: The origin of "can of corn" is the most-repeated question received
> here. Although it was answered a few seasons ago, here it is again. A
> couple of possible sources of the phrase are cited in the definitive
> "New Dickson Baseball Dictionary." The most accepted: The phrase,
> first used in 1896, makes reference to a long-ago practice where a
> grocer would use a stick to tip a can of vegetables off a high shelf,
> then catch it in his hands or outstretched apron. Another possible
> source: Such a pop fly is as easy to capture as "corn from a can."
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 5:32 PM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------=
> ------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> > Subject:      "can of corn"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > The expression "can of corn" in the sense of 'easy task' (or, as we
> might=
>  s=3D
> > ay, "piece of cake") has been familiar to me for some decades, though I
> h=
> ad=3D
> > n't heard it in a while till last night's telecast of the Atlanta Braves
> =
> vs=3D
> > . Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game.  Chip Caray remarked, about an
> easily=
> -c=3D
> > aught high fly ball to center field, "That's a can of corn for BJ
> Upton."=
> =3D
> > =3D0A=3D
> > =3D0A=3D
> > The expression is absent from HDAS. (I lack access to DARE and other
> refe=
> re=3D
> > nce works, presently.) I wonder what the image originally imported . . .
> =
> . =3D
> > =3D0A=3D
> > =3D0A=3D
> > Charlie=3D
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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