End of ADS-L Digest - 14 Apr 1997 to 15 Apr 1997
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<br>Subject: ADS-L Digest - 15 Apr 1997 to 16 Apr 1997
<br>
<br>There are 16 messages totalling 526 lines in this issue.
<br>
<br>Topics of the day:
<br>
<br> 1. Grand Slam/Gotcha!/In God We Trust/Hoosier/Yankees
<br> 2. hypercorrect intervocalic /t/ (8)
<br> 3. appropriation of pejoratives (aka "taking ownership")
<br> 4. A little humor (2)
<br> 5. plea for advice (4)
<br>
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<br>
<br>Date:  Wed, 16 Apr 1997 01:55:14 -0400
<br>From:  "Barry A. Popik"  Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM 
<br>Subject: Grand Slam/Gotcha!/In God We Trust/Hoosier/Yankees
<br>
<br>GRAND SLAM
<br>
<br>"We are a grand slam society."
<br>  --President Clinton, Shea Stadium, 15 April 1997
<br>
<br>   The term comes from bridge. I sure hope he wasn't alluding to playing
<br>all the tricks.
<br>   Paul Dickson's BASEBALL DICTIONARY has the first citation from the Peter
<br>Tamony file, 20 August 1940 in the San Francisco News. "Evidence that this
<br>term did not come into use until 1940 can be found in the fact that it was
<br>_not_ mentioned in Edward J. Nichols' 1939 thesis on baseball language,"
<br>Dickson writes.
<br>   OED has it under "slam" and has 1953 for baseball, 1933 for military,
<br>and 1814 for bridge.
<br>   I couldn't find a pre-1940 citation, and what I did find confirms "grand
<br>slam" was not used. Perhaps I missed it, but the earliest Sporting News
<br>citation was 23 September 1941, pg. 13, col. 7, "GRAND-SLAM HOMER SINKS
<br>DODGERS."
<br>   On 20 December 1934, pg. 5, cols. 2-3, the Sporting News headline reads
<br>"Home Runs With Bases Loaded." On 16 May 1940, pg. 3, col. 3, a cartoon
<br>character declares "Gosh, how I'd like ta knock homers an' triples with th'
<br>bags loaded all th' time on them Yankees!" On 24 April 1939, NY
<br>World-Telegram, pg. 16, the cartoon "Hazy Daisy" in the upper right hand
<br>corner of the page has a newspaper that reads "SID LUCKMAN HITS HOMER WITH
<br>BASES FULL."
<br>   The Grand Slam quest continues, but it ain't there much before 1940.
<br>
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<br>GOTCHA!
<br>
<br>   I think Safire's column missed this. Check out David Crystal's THE
<br>CAMBRIDGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1995), pg. 275, for a nice
<br>explanation of "gotcha."
<br>
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<br>IN GOD WE TRUST
<br>
<br>   The best source of materials on this is somewhere under my bed. Trust
<br>me.
<br>   I cannot do a full treatment now! I think there's an anaconda under
<br>there!
<br>   Safire refers to this in today's Op-Ed piece, but incredibly leaves out
<br>"The Star-Spangled Banner," which has "In God Is Our Trust" at the end of its
<br>fourth stanza.
<br>   Safire writes: "Didn't Lincoln, at the insistence of his devout
<br>Treasury Secretary, order 'In God We Trust' to appear on coins and
<br>greenbacks?"
<br>   Well, no.
<br>   Coins, yes. It was used on the eagle ($10 gold piece), the double
<br>eagle ($20 gold piece), the half eagle ($5 gold piece), the silver dollar,
<br>the half dollar, and the quarter.
<br>    Greenbacks came about 1956, when Lincoln was long dead.
<br>
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<br>HOOSIER
<br>
<br>    I made an extensive posting on this January 1, 1997 on ADS-L. No one
<br>made a single comment. Did no one read it?
<br>    My pile on "Hoosier" is probably the best there is anywhere. In that
<br>posting, I uncovered five pre-1833 citations. Because of the references to
<br>"hoosier bait," I concluded that "hoosier" was something large--a big fish.
<br> I distinctly eliminated "Who's yer."
<br>    So why is this coming up again????
<br>
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<br>YANKEES
<br>
<br>    A new book about the New York Yankees (containing 1996 World Series
<br>info) is out by Jay David. He states that they were called "Yankees" about
<br>1908.
<br>    I solved this last year.
<br>    I traced it to April 1904 in William Randolph Hearst's NY EVENING
<br>JOURNAL, in a sports section edited by Harry Beecher (Harriet Beecher Stowe's
<br>grandnephew). It was also published in COMMENTS ON ETYMOLOGY. I sent it to
<br>the Mayor of New York City, who never wrote back.
<br>    I was never invited to the Yankees parade at City Hall.
<br>    I was somewhere way in the back, crying.
<br>