[Ads-l] Big Sky

[Nancy Friedman]

Anyone else remember when the San Francisco 49ers tried to give star
quarterback Joe Montana the nickname "Big Sky"?

Wikipedia:

>>Montana earned the nickname "Joe Cool" for his ability to stay calm at
key moments, and "Comeback Kid" for his history of rallying his teams from
late-game deficits. His teammates in San Francisco called him "Bird Legs"
[70] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Montana#cite_note-70>[71]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Montana#cite_note-71> due to his very
thin legs and small calves. He was called "Golden Joe" because he played in
California (the Golden State), and also appeared on a poster superimposed
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superimposition> in front of the Golden Gate
Bridge <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge> with the wording
"The Golden Great".[72]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Montana#cite_note-72> Two more names
were provided by a *San Francisco Chronicle
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Chronicle>* nickname contest
early in his NFL career: the winner was "Big Sky", but another contestant
suggested that since "Joe Montana" already sounded like a nickname, Montana
needed a real name, and christened him "David W. Gibson".[73]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Montana#cite_note-73> Montana liked the
Gibson name so much that he had it stenciled above his locker.<<


Nancy Friedman
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http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
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On Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 9:15 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From around 1950, the state of Montana has embraced the
> promotional nickname of "Big Sky Country."  There's even a tourist town
> called Big Sky.
>
> Of diverting pedantic interest is that "Sonh-yoo-wau-na, or Big Sky," is
> among the "Sachems and War-Chiefs of the...Six Nations" listed as signers
> of a treaty with the United States which was entered into at
> "Kon-on-daigua, N.Y." (modern Canandaigua), June 26, 1794.
>
> See _Gazette of the United States_ (Jan. 30, 1795), p. 10.
>
> Modern use of the phrase comes from the title of A. B. Guthrie's
> best-selling novel, _The Big Sky_ (1947), filmed in 1952.
>
> 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
>

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