[Ads-l] "Stuff"

Mon Oct 5 18:58:50 UTC 2015

GT: << Btw, has anyone compared "you are it" with Sanskrit "tat tvam asi"?
 >>
WB:  Not me. But I find it touching.

On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 1:18 AM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Stuff"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I did not include a link to the Times's article on pitchers and their
> "stuff", because I was concerned that that might lead to my note being
> blocked or relegated to Spam.
> Here it is now.
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/sports/baseball/the-mysteries-of-pitching=
> -and-all-that-stuff.html?ref=3Dtodayspaper
>
> GAT
>
> On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 9:39 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > "Far and wide his tips were quoted, and his baseball stuff was noted."
> > Hawaiian gazette Ap. 28, 1991 p1 col. 4 Library of Congress
> >
> > Btw, has anyone compared "you are it" with Sanskrit "tat tvam asi"?
> >
> > Stephen Goranson
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Yagoda, Ben <byagoda at UDEL.EDU>
> > Sent: Monday, October 5, 2015 9:24 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: [ADS-L] "Stuff"
> >
> > George, you really are the guy who looks =E2=80=9Cstuff=E2=80=9D up in
> bo=
> oks!
> >
> > The thing I especially like about the term is when pitchers are quoted as
> > saying, =E2=80=9CI didn=E2=80=99t have that good of stuff.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > Ben
> >
> > > --------------------------
> > >
> > > Date:    Sun, 4 Oct 2015 10:59:00 -0400
> > > From:    George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> > > Subject: "Stuff" in baseball
> > >
> > > Can I really be the first to point out to you all that the NY Times
> thi=
> s
> > > morning had an article on the current and historical use of the word
> > > "stuff" to describe an indescribable excellence in pitching.  Are the
> > other
> > > Times subscribers among us all slug-a-beds?
> > >
> > > The article is "Baseball Talk, And All That Stuff", by John Branch,  NY
> > > Times, October 4, 2015, A section, p. 1, cols. 1-2, continued in the
> > Sports
> > > section, p. 2, cols. 1-5The article quotes a number of current players
> > > using the word and then floundering at trying to explain what they mean
> > by
> > > it.
> > > Branch then turns to a dictionary for help:
> > > "Merriam-Webster has many definitions of stuff, from tangible materials
> > > (move your stuff) to ethereal knowledge (know your stuff). Its eighth
> > > definition =E2=80=94 =E2=80=9Cspin imparted to a thrown or hit ball=E2=
> =80=9D =E2=80=94 mentions
> > baseball."
> > >
> > > Meanwhile, the OED has a definition very like the one from M-W:
> > > 9 b  N. Amer. In various sports, the spin or =E2=80=98work=E2=80=99
> imp=
> arted to a ball in
> > > order to make it vary its course; the type of control which effects
> thi=
> s.
> > > Also fig.
> > > Its list of quotations begin in 1905:
> > > 1905   Sporting Life (U.S.) 9 Sept. 1/1   If I tried some of the stuff
> > that
> > > certain pitchers use and escape bumping, I have an idea that the
> fielde=
> rs
> > > would never stop..hitting.
> > > 1913   Harper's Weekly 13 Sept. 21/2   Weilman, the giant Brown, is
> > another
> > > [pitcher] who has the =E2=80=98stuff=E2=80=99.
> > > 1927   Daily Tel. 21 Feb. 13/6   T. A. Workman, their captain, was in
> > > wonderfully good form against Commander S. W. Beadle, finding an almost
> > > perfect length for an American service which had plenty of
> =E2=80=98stu=
> ff=E2=80=99 on it.
> > > Beadle could not do anything with it, and was kept on the defensive
> > > throughout.
> > >
> > > Branch offers an antedating, and then several other very early
> passages=
> ,
> > > all from the NYTimes:
> > > In 1896, The New York Times wrote about the bleak prospects of Yale=E2=
> =80=99s
> > team,
> > > writing of one infielder, =E2=80=9CIt is thought that he has some
> genui=
> ne
> > baseball
> > > stuff in him, though it is in an immature state, and will require a
> gre=
> at
> > > deal of coaching to develop.=E2=80=9D
> > > By the turn of the century, the word started applying specifically to
> > > pitchers. One creative Times reporter in 1908 gave voice to Giants
> > Manager
> > > John McGraw in an imaginary conversation with pitcher Doc Crandall.
> > > =E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99ll never get to that stuff of yours, and even if
> =
> they did, we can
> > hit
> > > anything they can bring out,=E2=80=9D McGraw probably did not say.
> > > In early 1911, in an article written for The Times about the best
> > pitchers
> > > of the era, Boston Manager Fred Tenney provided a rare definition when
> > > describing Christy Mathewson. =E2=80=9CI consider him the greatest
> pitc=
> her that
> > > ever was in the game,=E2=80=9D Tenney wrote. =E2=80=9CHe has more =E2=
> =80=98stuff=E2=80=99 than any
> > other.=E2=80=9D
> > >
> > > GAT
> > >
> > > --
> > > 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
> > > Ge
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> 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
>

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