[Ads-l] YouTubery: "I guess you never heard of a _wheelbarrel_."

[Barretts Mail]

> On 21 Apr 2019, at 11:53, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> A meaning missing from the English OLD (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wheelbarrow <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wheelbarrow>) and Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wheelbarrow <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wheelbarrow>) for wheelbarrow is the human wheelbarrow where one person grabs another by the legs and the person who is grabbed moves by moving their arms. This is surely common enough to be beyond metaphorical usage.
>> 
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCCb0wxyodM <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCCb0wxyodM>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPp3YrZxe8 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPp3YrZxe8>
> 
> The OED has an entry for the compound "wheelbarrow race" which
> apparently involves simply pushing a wheelbarrow. There is also a
> separate entry under derivatives for "wheelbarrow race" which involves
> (sense a) pushing a human in a wheelbarrow or (sense b) pushing a
> human imitating a wheelbarrow.
> 
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> wheelbarrow, n.
> Compounds
> C1. General attributive.
> wheelbarrow race  n.
> 
> 1837   D. Walker Games & Sports 341   Wheelbarrow Race... Along this
> course, over the bridge, and up to the goal, the candidates must drive
> their barrows blindfolded—if they can.
> [End OED excerpt]
> 
> 
> [Begin OED excerpt]
>  wheelbarrow race  n.  (a) a race in which each contestant pushes a
> wheelbarrow (usually occupied by a team-mate);  (b) a race between
> teams of two, one team member holding up the legs of the other, who is
> the wheelbarrow and ‘walks’ as quickly as possible on his or her
> hands.
> 
> 1874   Thistleton's Illustr. Jolly Giant 1 Aug. 51/3   We would advise
> all who wish to dance and witness the athletic games and sports,
> wheelbarrow race, prizes, especially the box of cigars, valued at $2,
> to start early for Fasskin's Gardens.
> 
> 1903   Daily Chron. 31 Mar. 9/1   Wheelbarrow races and stone-rolling
> competitions.
> [End OED excerpt]
> 
> Here is a citation for "wheelbarrow race" from 1827, but the citation
> does not include a precise description of the event.
> 
> Date: April 12, 1827
> Newspaper: Berrow's Worcester Journal
> Location: Worcester, Worcestershire, England
> Quote Page 4, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Saturday, 31st, was looked forward to by the lads in the village with
> delight, as they had upon this day an opportunity of exhibiting their
> talents in a jingling match, pig race, sack race, wheelbarrow race,
> catching at suspended rolls dipped in treacle, eating hot hasty
> pudding, &c. &c.
> [End excerpt]
> 

Thank you for finding that. (I just recently realized that I had never lost my access to the OED so I’ll try to check that going forward.)

1801
https://tinyurl.com/yyv4544w <https://tinyurl.com/yyv4544w>
The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England: From the Earliest Period, ….
Joseph Strutt
p. 293 (That page has hunting the pig and sack running, and the previous page describes the jingling match.)

——
The Wheelbarrow Race requires room, and is performed upon some open green, or in a field free of encumbrances. The candidates are all of them blindfolded, and every one has his wheelbarrow, which he is to drive from the starting-place to a mark set up for that purpose, at some considerable distance.
——

I assume “drive” means “push.”

WRT to the human wheelbarrow, I looked online briefly, and it seems that “wheelbarrow” refers mainly to the exercise or race, not the person who is being held, which makes sense on reflection. And in fact, that’s how the two videos I cited use the word.

In addition to my video citations above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rj7SWuIAko <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rj7SWuIAko>
How to do the Wheelbarrow Exercise

https://monkeysee.com/fitness-for-kids-the-wheelbarrow/ <https://monkeysee.com/fitness-for-kids-the-wheelbarrow/>
Fitness for Kids – The Wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrow walk with ball as an exercise:
https://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=44 <https://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=44>
Wheelbarrow Walk with Ball

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/fitness/exercises/wheelbarrow-walk-with-ball.html?noredirect=on <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/fitness/exercises/wheelbarrow-walk-with-ball.html?noredirect=on>
Wheelbarrow Walk with Ball

Surely, the person being held is also called the wheelbarrow on occasion. 

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/485262928576458660/ <https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/485262928576458660/> combines the two:
Alex as the human wheelbarrow, great exercise for arms, shoulders and core! 

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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