Date:  Wed, 24 Jan 1996 12:53:27 -0800

From:  Dan Moonhawk Alford <dalford[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]S1.CSUHAYWARD.EDU>

Subject: Re: out in left field



Has nobody thought of it from the point of view of little boys playing

baseball? It was always the worst player that was put out in left field,

someone who wouldn't be needed much. You just put that person out that

and forgot about 'im; you certainly didn't expect to hear or see anything

unusual from out in left field. This metaphor has consciousness implications.



On Tue, 23 Jan 1996, Larry Horn wrote:



> To complete the file, underdetermined though the history may be, the following

> citation should not go unmentioned:

>

>   A. M. Zwicky, P. H. Salus, R. I. Binnick & A. L. Vanek (eds.),

>    STUDIES OUT IN LEFT FIELD: DEFAMATORY ESSAYS PRESENTED TO JAMES D.

>    McCAWLEY ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 33rd OR 33th BIRTHDAY. Edmonton:

>    Linguistic Research, Inc., 1971. (Current Inquiry into Language &

>    4.) [Recently reissued.]

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------

> The origin of the phrase is obscure. Paul Dickson's Baseball

> Dictionary mentions the phrase, but hazards no opinion of its origin.

> Christine Ammer's dictionary of cliches, "Have A Nice Day", offers

> three theories gleaned from William Safire. Two deal with distance,

> either to the left field wall or to the left fielder, and one claims

> that "in the Chicago Cubs' old ballpark" a mental hospital was

> located just beyond left field (this seems pretty far-fetched).

> Ammer says the phrase has been in use since about 1950, but cites

> only a 1974 example. These dates reflect our files in a general way;

> our earliest citation comes from 1956 and shows the phrase either not

> fixed in form yet, or a very un-baseballish author: in a review of

> "Waiting for Godot" Estragon is described as "a fellow out on left

> field". A couple of years later an unidentified speaker (perhaps

> Jack Benny) is quoted as saying "My so-called Allen feud came

> strictly out of left field". I expected better evidence, but there

> was a long-established disinterest in sports lingo back in those

> days. The phrase begins appearing with "in" as the usual preposition

> in the 1970s.

>

> E.W.Gilman

>