[Ads-l] Origin of Pittsburgh Pirates nickname

[Peter Reitan]

Well, the alliteration may have played a role.

Before 1891, the "Pittsburgs" were frequently referred to as the "Alleghenys".  The most common way of referring to teams at the time was to use the name of the city in plural.  The Bostons, the New Yorks, the Buffalos.  In cities with teams in two leagues, they might be the New York Nationals and the New York Americans.

The "Pittsburgh" team was actually formed and played in Allegheny, so they were the "Alleghenys".  But Pittsburgh was right next door and much better known, so they were frequently the "Pittsburghs".  I don't think I've ever seen the "Pittsburg Alleghenys", except in modern-day discussions of old-timey names written at a time in which teams all have official, trademarked nicknames - or "names" - if that's more technically correct.  But what's in a name, does not a nickname by any other name smell as sweet?

But after they became the Pittsburgh Pirates, you see the "Alleghenys" much less frequently.  Perhaps popularity of the new, alliterative nickname had some role in the original town and name taking a back seat.

And as for whether Lou Bierbauer was the reason they became the Pirates as someone else asked, what's the old saying, "you can lead a linguist to a link but you can't make him drink"?


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2018 4:47 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Origin of Pittsburgh Pirates nickname

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Origin of Pittsburgh Pirates nickname
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Oct 15, 2018, at 5:13 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> =
wrote:
>=20
> Better Pirates of Penzance that No No Nanette=E2=80=A6

Yes, that was a painful transaction for us anti-Yankees fans, if we were =
weren=E2=80=99t (quite) alive at the time of the Babe Ruth salary dump.  =
Crazy Frazee. =20

I had always assumed the Pittsburgh Pirates were so-called for purposes =
of alliteration, like the Boston Braves, the Buffalo Bills, the Seattle =
Seahawks, the Jacksonville Jaguars, or the Philadelphia Phillies (well, =
OK, that one is a bit more than alliteration).  The real story is more =
interesting, I have to confess.  I wonder if the Tampa Bay Buc(caneer)s =
of the NFL stole any players when they started out.  Not enough of them, =
apparently.

LH

>=20
> On Mon, Oct 15, 2018, 4:24 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> =
wrote:
>=20
>> I recently posted an article about the origin of the Pittsburgh =
Pirates'
>> nickname.  The general story is well known - Pittsburgh "stole" =
(allegedly
>> - they were exonerated) some players - therefore "Pirates."  The =
story is a
>> bit more complex than that; there were a lot of pirates and =
accusations of
>> piracy flying around at the time.  Humorously, when the name Pirates
>> finally caught on with Pittsburgh, it was borrowed from lyrics from =
the
>> Pirates of Penzance, "It is, it is, a glorious thing, to be, to be a =
Pirate
>> King."
>>=20
>> =
https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-pittsburgh-pirates-of-penzance.html=

>>=20
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>=20
>=20
> On Oct 15, 2018 4:24 PM, "Peter Reitan" <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> I recently posted an article about the origin of the Pittsburgh =
Pirates'
> nickname.  The general story is well known - Pittsburgh "stole" =
(allegedly
> - they were exonerated) some players - therefore "Pirates."  The story =
is a
> bit more complex than that; there were a lot of pirates and =
accusations of
> piracy flying around at the time.  Humorously, when the name Pirates
> finally caught on with Pittsburgh, it was borrowed from lyrics from =
the
> Pirates of Penzance, "It is, it is, a glorious thing, to be, to be a =
Pirate
> King."
>=20
> =
https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-pittsburgh-pirates-of-penzance.html=

>=20
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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

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