Word (Origin) of the Moment: Upset
Courtesy of Wikipedia's "Man O' War" entry:
In those early days of racing there were no starting gates. Jockeys circled around as they still do today, but then gathered their horses in a line and were sent away by the signal of the starter's flag. In Man O' War's only loss, he was still circling with his back to the starting line when the flag was dropped. After the jockey got Man O' War turned around, he was already far behind the pack but despite this, he still came close to winning, losing by a half-length as he charged across the finish line in second place. The horse who won that race was Upset, whose name popularized a new phrase in sports ('upset' meaning an upstart beating the favorite).
1 Comments:
Wikipedia states that, "2002 - George Thompson, a lexicographic researcher, used the full-text online search capabilities of the New York Times databases to disprove this claimed coinage. The verb to upset and the noun upset, were traced to the years 1865 and 1877, respectively. [1]"
Which is correct?
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