{"id":2658,"date":"2014-09-10T15:16:14","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T20:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=2658"},"modified":"2014-09-11T14:54:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T19:54:58","slug":"talking-smack-on-and-off-the-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=2658","title":{"rendered":"Talking smack, on and off the track…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"derby\"<\/a>Yesterday I received a comment that the reader enjoyed my post but disagreed with most of what I said. I wasn’t at all offended but thought, “that’s why they have horse races,” thinking that is a well-known expression meaning we can all choose our own horse; decide what we do or don’t like. I thought is was an old horse-related adage as familiar as “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” The full version of this quote, by the way, was originally stated by Frank\u00a0Robinson in 1973 when he said, \u00a0“Close don’t count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”<\/p>\n

But much to my surprise, after an extensive Google search, I could find no such “why we have horse races” expression quoted by a famous baseball player or anyone. Nowhere. Not even in Kentucky.<\/p>\n

So I must have made it up, or my dad made it up or Grandpa Kyle made it up, but looks like it didn’t permeate common speech as far as I had thought. In my search, I was intrigued, though, by how many everyday expressions do allude to, and are derived from, horse racing terms. Many readers may already know these (yes you, Alan,) but I thought they were of interest and worth sharing.\u00a0So for those of you as ignorant on this subject as I, here you go!<\/p>\n

Horse Racing Terms Used In Common Speech 101:<\/strong><\/p>\n

across the board<\/strong><\/p>\n

Across the board<\/em>\u00a0originated around 1903 as a betting term in horse racing. Wagering\u00a0across the board<\/em>\u00a0means betting that your horse will finish in either first, second, or third place–effectively betting all the way across a single line of the board. \u00a0In contemporary usage, this phrase indicates the inclusion of everyone or everything in a given scenario, such as across the board<\/em> layoffs.<\/p>\n

charley horse<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does a sharp muscle cramp have to do with a horse named Charley?\u00a0The term charley horse<\/em>\u00a0began as baseball slang around the late 1800’s. Some think the\u00a0phrase might be named for pitcher Charlie “Old Hoss” Radbourn, National Baseball Hall of Fame 1939, who suffered from sudden leg cramps. Again we have baseball and horse racing terms rubbing elbows–go figure. The\u00a0<\/em>Online Etymology Dictionary<\/em>\u00a0states that charley horse<\/em> may be derived “from somebody\u2019s long-forgotten lame racehorse.” But it’s suspected the cross-over to baseball was created by player Joe Quest, Chicago White Stockings (love the Stockings–now we in Chicago don’t even spell Socks right) from 1879-1882. Quest<\/span>\u00a0is quoted as saying, “the ball players troubled with the ailment hobbled exactly as did an old horse, a\u00a0charley horse.”<\/em><\/p>\n

dark horse<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dark, a term meaning lacking light, also means concealed, secret, or mysterious. By that token, a dark horse<\/em>\u00a0is a horse about whose racing powers little is known; a horse unfamiliar to the race organizers and the odds makers. Dark<\/em>\u00a0in this sense has nothing to do with color but more the unknown qualities of the horse. In daily speech, a\u00a0dark horse<\/em>\u00a0often refers to any unexpected success. In politics, a\u00a0dark horse <\/em>candidate\u00a0is one who seemingly appears out of nowhere and experiences a sudden gain in popularity.<\/p>\n

front runner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Similarly, a front runner\u00a0<\/em>is the leading candidate in a contest, competition, or election and comes from the horse racing\u00a0term referring to a horse that runs best while in the lead.<\/p>\n

give and take<\/strong><\/p>\n

Give and take\u00a0<\/em>was originally referred to in horse racing. \u00a0 The\u00a0give and take plate <\/em>was “a prize for a race in which the horses which exceed a standard height carry more, and those which fall short of it less than the standard weight,” according to the\u00a0Oxford English Dictionary<\/em>. \u00a0By 1769,\u00a0give and take<\/em>\u00a0also referred to races in general in which bigger horses were given more weight to carry, lighter ones less. It was around 1778 that the phrase gained broader popular use meaning, “the art of compromise.”<\/p>\n

hands down<\/strong><\/p>\n

To win something hands down<\/em>\u00a0means to win it easily. It comes from the practice of horse-racing jockeys\u00a0loosening the reins and lowering their hands when it seemed certain that they will win. This type of confident finish in any scenerio has come to be known as winning hands down.<\/em><\/p>\n

home stretch<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re in the home stretch<\/em>, also known as the home straight, you\u2019re almost done with whatever you\u2019re trying to accomplish. That meaning began as a horse racing term in about 1841 and refers to the final length, or stretch, of the racetrack.<\/p>\n

in (or out) of the running<\/strong><\/p>\n

In horse racing, those horses in the running<\/em>\u00a0are the lead competitors. This term came about in the mid-1800s, while the figurative meaning referring to viable, and not so viable, political candidates originated a couple of years later.<\/p>\n

a run for one\u2019s money<\/strong><\/p>\n

To give someone\u00a0a run for their money<\/em>\u00a0means to give them a challenge. The term originated in horse racing around 1839,\u00a0with the meaning \u201cto have (or get, want, etc.) a successful race from a horse one has backed, especially when that horse appeared likely to be scratched, or\u00a0\u00a0withdrawn,” again from the OED.<\/p>\n

running mate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Running mate<\/em>\u00a0is yet another political term that we get from horse racing. It refers to a candidate or nominee for the lesser of two closely associated political office. In horse racing, a running mate<\/em> is a horse used to set the pace in a race for another horse, and also, a horse that runs alongside a trotting or pacing horse in double harness, relieving that horse of some of the effort of pulling a load. (e.g. G. W. Bush\/Dick Chaney?)<\/p>\n

also ran<\/strong><\/p>\n

Commonly used to refer to the losing candidate in an election, an\u00a0also ran<\/em>\u00a0is also an equestrian driven term for a non-winner. At the track, the results of each race would post the top finishers as well as the rest of the field. Any horse that doesn’t win is listed as an\u00a0also ran<\/em>.<\/p>\n

down to the wire<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every procrastinator knows what it\u2019s like to be working on a project till the last minute, but why to \u201ca wire\u201d? Today this expression refers to something being incomplete or unfinished until the last possible moment, but it originated in hotly contested horse races. A thin wire was strung above the finish line of the track to help the official\u2014and later cameras\u2014spot the horse that crossed the line first, and tight races went literally to the wire.<\/p>\n

win by a nose\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This expression has spread to all different sports as a metaphor for a close contest even though a nose isn\u2019t the first body part to cross the finish line in most human competitions. However, a horse\u2019s nose is first over the line at the racetrack and is used as the reference for judging the victor. In racing, a \u201cnose\u201d also refers to the smallest margin of victory allowed for a horse to be officially declared the winner. Races won by a nose may also have been fought \u201cneck and neck\u201d as the horses ran side by side all the way to the end.<\/p>\n

So there you have it, a former English teacher’s version of either boring you to death or a nice little distraction from whatever else you might be doing on this cool and rainy Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow’s lesson will be on the unique verbage of petit point stitchers as well as a discussion of ocean allusions in space travel.<\/p>\n

And if that appears, I will be hands down, across the board an also ran who before the home stretch of my short but hopeful blogging career was out of the running and dubbed, yet another equestrian term used in common speech, a horse’s ass.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I received a comment that the reader enjoyed my post but disagreed with most of what I said. I wasn’t at all offended but thought, “that’s why they have horse races,” thinking that is a well-known expression meaning we can all choose our own horse; decide what we do or don’t like. I thought …<\/p>\n

>>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTalking smack, on and off the track... - askmsmom.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=2658\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Talking smack, on and off the track... - askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday I received a comment that the reader enjoyed my post but disagreed with most of what I said. 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