beast

[Tyler Schnoebelen]

Can someone remind me of the origin and path of the other kind of "beast" that I associate with bro's?

"That's beast" (~'awesome')



On Feb 10, 2014, at 9:47 AM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: beast
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Feb 10, 2014, at 11:39 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>> CNN describes a football player as "a beast on the field, a great leader."
>>
>> Used to be, a "beast" was a kinda bad thing. But hey, football.
>
> Is your "but hey," a relative of "because"?
>
> I wonder whether it's necessarily the case that a beast ("on the field" can be implied) is necessarily a great leader.  Lawrence Taylor was both, but there are others who are beasts and not especially leaders.
>
> I'm also not sure whether calling someone a beast does or doesn't imply great strength and/or size; I can imagine Peyton Manning, who has neither, being considered a beast in the sense of tough to contend with or counter.
>
> Also, in a sports context, one of the prominent uses applied to teams rather than players, especially in the frame ____ of the East.  So Georgetown, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, or UConn would alternately be described as (the) Beast of the East, back when there was a Big East Conference (yes, there's one now, but it's…well, less big).  Beast of the West (say for UCLA in the 60s-70s) was much less likely--"best of/in the West", maybe, but not really the same.
>
> LH
>
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