[Ads-l] Olympics-related WOTY? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Dan Goncharoff]

But, but, the goat of Azazel IS the the guilty one! That's the point.

On Aug 15, 2016 6:49 PM, "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> > What is this from? The goat of Azazel?
>
> There was a short discussion of the early use of "goat" in the sports
> domain in the article that Ben Yagoda linked. Gerald Cohen was
> skeptical of the connection to scapegoat.
>
> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/07/goat.html
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Dickson notes that most explanations for the origin of the baseball
> usage describe it as a clipped form of "scapegoat" that refers "to a
> player whose error is being blamed for a team's defeat."
>
> However, he points out that one language researcher, Gerald L. Cohen,
> challenged this theory in the Dec. 1, 1985, issue of Comments on
> Etymology.
>
> "A scapegoat is innocent, whereas the goat is not; he has blundered,
> usually at a crucial moment," Cohen writes. "And the standard
> etymology of 'goat' as a shortening of 'scapegoat' is therefore almost
> certainly in error."
>
> He suggests instead that the usage might have been influenced by a
> goat used to haul a peanut wagon in the late 19th century. Perhaps,
> but we think the erroneous-shortening hypothesis seems more likely.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> > On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 5:26 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> > RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
> >
> >> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >>
> >> Slightly earlier:
> >>
> >> _The Sporting Life_ 10 Aug 1907 p 5 col 4
> >> "Nick Altrock continues to be the goat. He is the unlucky pitcher of the
> >> team this year, and to date has won four games, lost eleven and tied
> one."
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> > The Grammarphobia notes that goat has been used negatively in sports
> "as
> >> a derisive term for a player responsible for a team’s loss".
> >> > Grammarphobia provides an excellent citation via The Dickson Baseball
> >> Dictionary (3rd ed.), by Paul Dickson. The citation is dated October
> >> > 10, 1909. Here is an instance from a few months earlier:
> >> >
> >> > Date: April 24, 1909
> >> > Newspaper: Denver Post
> >> > Newspaper Location: Denver, Colorado
> >> > Quote Page 7, Column 4
> >> > Database:GenealogyBank
> >> >
> >> > [Begin excerpt]
> >> > It was all a question of luck, which broke the wrong way, as it
> >> sometimes will. The Sox inserted their bad breaks in the wrong places,
> and
> >> it
> >> > is with grief we announce the blowing up of Pilot Bill. He was the
> goat
> >> all right and is in position to cuss himself good and plenty.
> >> > If Bill had not included that cloud-rasping throw in the eighth the
> >> champions would not have been able to tie on Doc's wild pitch in the
> >> > eleventh.
> >> > [End excerpt]
> >> >
> >> >
> >> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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