get one's goat (1906)

[George Thompson]

I may be the only horse-player here, so perhaps no one else watched the
telecast of the featured stakes races from Keeneland this past Saturday.
During the broadcast there was a bit about an elder-horse community for
retired thoroughbreds, including a brief glimpse of a stall occupied by a
horse and his two pet goats.

GAT

On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 7:16 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:

> "Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
> > I presented my notion and reviewed a few examples here in 2005:
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/oymgto6
>
>
> Intriguing analysis, Doug. Further below is a 1900 citation for a goat
> viewed as a good luck charm for horses.
>
> [Begin excerpt from Douglas G. Wilson's analysis]
> Review of the handy on-line newspapers shows that the "goat" in "get
> one's goat" was not strictly confined to this fixed expression, which
> is probably favored by alliteration.
>
> One's "goat" is apparently more or less one's composure or self-confidence.
>
> My current speculation is that the original reference was to a
> (metaphoric) mascot (in the old sense of good-luck charm, the opposite
> of jinx or hoodoo). Many sports teams apparently had goat mascots. The
> story about race-horses having goat companions is apparently true.
> [End excerpt from Douglas G. Wilson's analysis]
>
> Here is a citation with a goat kept by a stable hand.
>
> Periodical: The Sketch
> Date: August 29, 1900
> Section: The World of Sport
> Article: Racing Notes
> Page 252
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=sno4AQAAMAAJ&q=%22his+goat%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Stablelads are all fond of cats, and many of them like to have a goat
> on the premises. I know of one trainer who lost his goat and could not
> win a race of any sort until he got another one. He to this day,
> believes that the death of the goat brought him a long run of bad
> luck. Trainers and racing-men generally are highly charged with
> superstition.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998..

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