[Ads-l] Antedating and Semantic Suggestion for "Bullpen" (Baseball)

[Laurence Horn]

Wouldn't that be a generalized metonymy? (Or is synecdoche? I can never
remember)
"The Dodgers have a strong bullpen"
"The Yankees have a deep bench"
"The Braves have a fast outfield/infield"

(The concept of a deep bench has generalized further; before the 2024
election there were claims to the effect that the Democrats had a deep
bench, although you don't hear that so much now.).

LH



On Sun, Mar 23, 2025 at 6:11 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> bullpen (OED, 1.b., 1924)
>
> “Dixie Walker warmed up in the bullpen with Groom, but was saved for
> tomorrow’s game.” Washington Times, May 19, 1912, p16.
>
> NOTE:  This antedating was found by Ken Liss.
>
> SEMANTIC SUGGESTION:  The OED definition refers only to the "bullpen" as a
> physical space.  The word is also used very often to refer to the players
> who are relief pitchers.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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