Date:  Thu, 23 Feb 1995 22:50:11 EST

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Re: buck and a half



Where I've especially hear this usage, consistent with your informants,

Dennis, is in the lingo of the SportsCenter guys ([+male]; I can't remember

any of the female hosts using it) in contexts like "He's hitting a buck fifty"

(=.150, i.e. for the non-initiates, or those of you who aren't old enough to

remember the days before the game of "baseball" had fallen into desuetude, 3

hits in every 20 at bats). I'm not familiar with some of the other contexts

of use you(r informants) cite, but most of them would be interpretable as

extensions of the batting average context.



Larry



P.S. (speaking of "(you) guys")--Thanks to everyone who posted on that topic;

the printout of the download of that colloquy was useful to the student in my

"Langauge, Sex, and Gender" course who put together an oral presentation on the

distribution of those items.