[Ads-l] Originator of "Tush Push" ?

[Ben Zimmer]

I wrote about "tush push" in my Oct. 26, 2023 Wall St. Journal column:
https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/tush-a-rear-end-gets-pushed-as-a-football-strategy-2525f6c0?st=f7JqLd&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

An excerpt:

---
"Tush push" benefits from a memorable rhyming pattern, and the Eagles’
usage may descend partly from a similar football moniker: the "Bush push."
That was the name given to a game-winning play in a dramatic 2005 college
game between the University of Southern California and Notre Dame, in which
USC running back Reggie Bush nudged his quarterback Matt Leinart over the
goal line.
But the phrase "tush push" first gained prominence as the name of a country
line dance. The dance was reputedly first choreographed at a Texas bar in
1979, but it would take another five years before it started appearing in
newspapers under the name "Tush Push" or "Push Tush." When line-dancing
went mainstream in the '90s, the Tush Push was often performed alongside
such routines as the Electric Slide and the Cowboy Chacha.
A few decades before "tush push" got linked to the Eagles' offense, the
expression showed up in a different sporting context. At the 1992 Winter
Olympics in Albertville, France, short-track speedskating made its debut as
an Olympic sport. "In the relay, the exchanges are made by pushing the next
skater on the bum," the Montreal Gazette reported at the time. "The move is
known, informally, as the tush-push."
Football's "tush push" only began cropping up last January, when Paul
Domowitch, senior writer for the website The 33rd Team, quoted Mike Quick,
the Eagles' radio analyst and former wide receiver, using the phrase. Now,
however, "tush push" has been firmly pushed into the football lexicon.
---

See also our coverage of "tush push" in the Nov. 2024 installment of "Among
the New Words" (AmSp 99.4) covering 2023 ADS Word of the Year nominees.
https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article-abstract/99/4/468/392754/Among-the-New-Words

--bgz


On Wed, Jun 4, 2025 at 4:10 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> I am trying to ascertain who originated the name "Tush Push" for a
> controversial kind of quarterback sneak in the National Football League.  I
> would welcome any input on the originator of the name.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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