英语词汇spitball的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

spitball. Spitball is now used outside of baseball as the syno- nym for a deception or a dirty trick, and, as William Safire notes in On Language: “Because an old-time baseball pitcher never knew which way his spitball would break, the verb to spitball now means ‘to speculate.’ ” The term’s baseball origin probably goes back to 1902, when a pitcher named Frank Cor- ridon accidentally discovered that a ball wet with saliva twisted and turned weirdly as it traveled to the plate. Corridon appar- ently told Chicago White Sox teammate Elmer Stricklett about his discovery and Stricklett perfected the pitch, even naming it when another teammate asked him what he called it: “Don’t know. I suppose ‘spitball’ explains it as well as anything.” Al- though other sources claim the spitball was invented by New Bedford pitcher Tom Dond in 1876, when he rubbed glycerine on the ball, the term is first recorded in 1904 and the Stricklett story seems more likely. Outlawed since 1920, the spitball was once a perfectly legal pitch in baseball. Many pitchers used it in its heyday and its unpredictable behavior made batters dread the pitch. Some modern-day pitchers have been charged with using the “spitter”—not usually by spitting on the ball anymore, but by more devious methods such as moistening the hands and scratching the ball. Schoolboys’ spitball is even older than the baseball variety, as the word is first recorded in this sense in 1846. See throw someone a curve.

词汇	spitball
词源	spitball. Spitball is now used outside of baseball as the syno- nym for a deception or a dirty trick, and, as William Safire notes in On Language: “Because an old-time baseball pitcher never knew which way his spitball would break, the verb to spitball now means ‘to speculate.’ ” The term’s baseball origin probably goes back to 1902, when a pitcher named Frank Cor- ridon accidentally discovered that a ball wet with saliva twisted and turned weirdly as it traveled to the plate. Corridon appar- ently told Chicago White Sox teammate Elmer Stricklett about his discovery and Stricklett perfected the pitch, even naming it when another teammate asked him what he called it: “Don’t know. I suppose ‘spitball’ explains it as well as anything.” Al- though other sources claim the spitball was invented by New Bedford pitcher Tom Dond in 1876, when he rubbed glycerine on the ball, the term is first recorded in 1904 and the Stricklett story seems more likely. Outlawed since 1920, the spitball was once a perfectly legal pitch in baseball. Many pitchers used it in its heyday and its unpredictable behavior made batters dread the pitch. Some modern-day pitchers have been charged with using the “spitter”—not usually by spitting on the ball anymore, but by more devious methods such as moistening the hands and scratching the ball. Schoolboys’ spitball is even older than the baseball variety, as the word is first recorded in this sense in 1846. See throw someone a curve.
随便看	billionaire bill of lading billy billycan billycock billy the kid billy yank biltong bimbo binet-simon tests bing boys bing cherry bingley terrier bingo bingo arms biological warfare bioscare bird birdie bird of ill omen bird o’ satan bird-s nest soup bird woman birreligion birrellism