[Ads-l] "bloop," "blooper" (radio, baseball)

[Ben Zimmer]

* bloop, n. 'a plopping sound; a howling sound' (OED2 1931)

---
The Bulletin (San Francisco), Apr. 19, 1922, p. 1, col. 3
"Home Radio Nights - Great Game If You Don't Weaken - Come All Ye Faithful"
Shut up you kids. I'll let you hear when the music starts...
um-m-m-m-m-m-myarrup -- yarrup whee, whee, whee, DE-DE-DE-TAH,
DE-DE-DE-TAH. Bloop... bloop... eek... eek...
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bulletin-bloop/182135946/
---
Radio, May 1923, p. 30, col. 3
Earl Ennis, "Blooping!"
Any evening, for instance. Listen in. "Bloop! Bloop! Bloop!" In all
directions. Duets, trios, sextettes and whole choruses of them. Sometimes
they vary a bit. "Yeow-bloop!" Caterwauls, back fence dissonances,
chromatic colics, banshee yodelings. "Bloops" -- all of them!
https://books.google.com/books?id=XWlOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA30
---
Nevada State Journal, Nov. 18, 1923, p. 4, col. 1
"Radio," "Squealless Receiver Rouses Admiration of Radio Expert"
Without the familiar "bloop" radio would sound like I imagine it does in
England where reradiating sets are unlawful and radio frequency is the
order.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/nevada-state-journal-bloop/182141643/
---

* bloop, v. 'to make a howling noise; to operate a radio set in such a way
that it emits such a noise' (OED2 1926)

---
Radio, May 1923, p. 30, col. 3
Earl Ennis, "Blooping!"
Day by day, in every way, the air is getting "bloopier" and "bloopier!" If
there is a motto which should be learned, it is: "Bloop not, lest ye be
blooped." And thereby hangs an oscillation. [...] To "bloop," one turns up
the lamps of one's receiving set until it glows like a lighthouse off the
coast of England and starts hunting for a distant radiophone. The action is
accompanied by a violent wiggling action of the tickler. The result, for
everyone else in the neighborhood, is a series of wild whoops and yells.
These are "bloops." When the neighbor quits, he has been "blooped." [...]
The whole radio game is being "blooped" to death.
https://books.google.com/books?id=XWlOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA30
---
Radio, Nov. 1923, p. 33, col. 1
J.O. Watkins, "Why Bloop?"
As this article is written for the benefit of the broadcast listener who
may not be familiar with radio slang, let us say that to "bloop" means to
radiate from a receiving set so as to cause undesired sounds in neighboring
sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=XWlOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA11-PA33
---
Brooklyn Eagle, Dec. 17, 1923, p. 8A, col. 4, "Don't Bloop"
"Blooping" is operating a receiving set so that it transmits squeals and
whistles that interfere with reception by other sets.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle-blooping/182135705/
---

* blooper, n. 'one who operates a radio set in such a way that it emits a
howling noise' (OED2 1926)

---
Radio, May 1923, p. 30, col. 3
Earl Ennis, "Blooping!"
The "blooper," in the words of the cynic, is "one who bloops." [...] Alas
the "blooper" who plucks the strings of the night and twangs an ode to
misery on his damnable "bloopischord!"
https://books.google.com/books?id=XWlOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA30
---
Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 27, 1924, p. 19, col. 6
"Reradiation Gives Engineers a Problem"
There are some owners of receiving sets who keep their receivers in this
position deliberately and seem to find enjoyment in hearing the set whistle
and shriek. Arthur Lynch has coined a word to fit this type of radio fan.
He calls them "bloopers."
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-bloopers/182135128/
---

* blooper, n. 'Baseball. A ball lobbed over the infield so as to come down
just beyond their reach; a ball pitched high by the pitcher' (OED2 1937,
Dickson Baseball Dictionary 1937)

---
Los Angeles Daily News, July 17, 1925, p. 19, col. 1
Babe Twombly, who lengthened his hitting from infield singles to extra
bases, opened the ninth with a triple to center and came home with the
fifth run on Marty Krug's blooper to second. Mr. Krug heretofore has been
complaining about the deadly effect of the enemy's bloopers. He gave them
some of their own medicine yesterday. A blooper, be it known, is a ball
that loops over the infield and falls safe.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-blooper/182134958/
---

--bgz

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