New words from Sleepy Hollow

Wed Jan 22 12:58:28 UTC 2014

> "A-game" is arguably being used figuratively.

Indeed. You don't play games with Moloch. (Or "Holy Moley!" to followers:
gullible etymologists take note.)

> There is a Purgatory Road in NY (probably Orange County), but it's 45
miles from Sleepy Hollow.

A minor poetic license. If anything, it supports a contention that the show
is based on fact.

When an idiom is used on a popular TV series (not even cable in this case),
that makes it a good bet that it is or is about to go into wide circulation.

That was not the case for "A-game" in 1968.

JL

On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 9:02 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: New words from Sleepy Hollow
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here is an example in 1968 of "A-game" in the domain of an actual
> game: golf. The name "Lee" in the following passage referred to the
> player Lee Elder. The domain of battling supernatural creatures may be
> game-like especially when depicted on television, but in JL's example
> "A-game" is arguably being used figuratively.
>
> [ref] 1968 August 13, Omaha World-Herald, Nicklaus, Elder Restore
> Drama by Jim Murray, Quote Page 16, Column 1, Omaha, Nebraska.
> (GenealogyBank)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Lee is never going to be able to say "we'll play even" to some pickup
> gang again. Anybody who makes Jack Nicklaus take his A-game out of the
> bag and scramble to win is going to give even the reigning club
> champion five-a-side from now on.
> [End excerpt]
>
> This instance is from a rapid superficial search and should be antedatable.
>
> Urban Dictionary has an entry for "A game".
>
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=A+game
>
> It was difficult to search for "A-game" in the OED because the search
> engine was eager to show me "agame", but I do not think the top-game
> sense of "A game" was present.
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 7:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: New words from Sleepy Hollow
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Perhaps you missed the "Who cares?" in line one.  So generous of you to
> > assume that all readers of this thread, including agents of the OED, are
> as
> > steeped in knowledge as yourself and don't need to build a more powerful
> > vocabulary!
> >
> > This week, George Washington had himself resurrected by Catholic priests
> > (just for a few days) so he could lead Ich and Ab in the 21st century to
> a
> > map buried with him showing how to reach Purgatory from Sleepy Hollow.
> >  (It's within walking distance.) Won't bore you with the details, but in
> > the final scene (a real cliffhanger!), a magickally resurrected dude, a
> > witch sprung from Purg by a lady cop, *and* the Fully Headed Second
> > Horseman of the Apocalypse were yelling at each other about Coming
> > Destruction - and they're all  family!  Tune in This Fall to sort it
> out..
> >
> > Gotta love that Post-Mod By-God Washington Irving.
> >
> > The only linguistically interesting moment - and the sole point of this
> > note - was, "Not to bury the lead, but [Moloch's stirring up more shit]!"
> >
> > In other words, (ironically) "Not to beat around the bush."  The once
> > arcane journalistic dictum "Never bury your lead" may be poised to spread
> > to the masses. But Victor is surely ahead of the curve on that one too.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 6:12 PM, 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: New words from Sleepy Hollow
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Familiar with timesuck, but it's nothing compared to the "A-game" and
> >> "besties". I hope you were joking about these being new. "Besties" might
> >> have been teen slang a decade ago--or maybe two. But "A-game" sounds
> >> completely familiar for much longer than that and more associated with
> >> adults.
> >>
> >>      VS-)
> >>
> >> On 1/20/2014 8:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >> > ...Last week:
> >> >
> >> > "A boondoggle is an exercise in futility, a timesuck, a fool's
> errand."
> >> >
> >> > (So "timesuck" is now thought to be more familiar than "boondoggle."
> >> > 400,000 raw Google hits.)
> >> >
> >> > "We weren't exactly besties back then." (Best friends. 2,000,000 raw
> >> > Googlits.)
> >> >
> >> > "We need your A-game!"  (Your best and most comprehensive effort [to
> beat
> >> > Moloch]. Maybe a hundred thou RG's: hard to search for.)
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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