[Ads-l] "Official Ephus" and eephus?

Stephen Goranson goranson at DUKE.EDU
Mon Dec 16 15:09:36 UTC 2019


OED's word today is eephus, n. baseball,
 1.  slang. The quality of pitching exceptionally well. rare. 1935
2. A slow pitch having a high arcing trajectory. 1943ff
Beats me. I thought of Joe as if stretched out fancy to Josephus, adding a little extra something, but that's unlikely.

FWIW a July 27, 1929 headline in Oakland Tribune [CA] [newspapers.com] has a nonsense story with a photo of an ensign reportedly in a wrong location--too high: "Here's Official Ephus on the Cutter Bear."

SG






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