[Ads-l] the over-under

George Thompson george.thompson at NYU.EDU
Fri Aug 19 21:43:39 UTC 2016


Back in 2012 I posted a note on the movement of "over-under" from a term
used in sports betting to one used in general discourse.
Having forgotten that I had already posted such a note in 2011.

GAT

On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 12:40 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> This past week I've heard the phrase "the over-under" several times on
> cable news.
>
> Ex.: "So what's the over-under? What happens?"
>
> Seems to mean "reliable inside information; lowdown."
>
> Wikipedia shows its clear origin in sports betting.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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



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