Jiffy from Atlanta, Georgia, relates a story about a smelly road trip cooped up with her dog Moxie, who’s been sprayed the night before by a skunk. In recounting the story, she realized she hadn’t used the word skunked since she played cribbage with her dad years earlier. To be skunked or to get skunked in cribbage and other games and sports refers to “being defeated by a large margin,” and often ending the game prematurely because the victory is already decisive. Similarly, lexicographer Bryan Garner applies the participial adjective skunked to words such as hopefully and decimate, with meanings that are so unclear or controversial that they’re best avoided altogether. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Being Skunked in Cribbage Is Not Much Like Being Skunked by the Animal”
Hey there, you have A Way with Words.
Hey, this is Jiffy from Atlanta, Georgia.
My husband and I go with our two dogs to Maine for part of the summer.
It was 10:30 the night before we were leaving to drive back home to Atlanta.
And I had the dogs out to do their business.
And I was cleaning up business from dog one.
And dog two comes running from the corner of the yard in the dark and is rubbing her face on the grass. And this is not normal behavior for her. And then, oh my gosh, y’all, I was enveloped is the only word for it in this gasoline smell. And I was like, what have you gotten into?
And she is not happy.
And all of a sudden I thought, oh my gosh, you have gotten sprayed by skunk.
Yes, we are leaving at 8:30 the following morning.
We are packed up.
We’re going to drive and be on the road for two hours.
Or two hours.
No, for two nights.
With the stinkiest dog on the planet.
Stinkiest dog on the planet.
In the car with this said dog.
And then how are we going to bring her into a hotel room?
Oh, no.
Anyway.
Oh, no.
So anyway, I was recounting this story to a friend.
And I said, I was telling, I told her about the dog’s name is Moxie, about Moxie getting skunked.
And I thought, as soon as it was out of my mouth, I thought, you know what?
I haven’t used that word in so long.
When did I know this phrase? And then it hit me like the stench.
It hit me that the last time the last time I used get, you know, I’ve been skunked, getting skunked, being skunked was when I was playing cribbage with my dad.
Let’s talk about being skunked, but not just in cribbage and many sports, including cribbage and table tennis and horseshoes and backgammon and dominoes and others.
Being skunked is kind of related to the idea of the mercy rule.
That there’s a big enough point gap or scoring gap that the game is called for whoever’s winning or whoever’s leading,
Even if there’s still time on the clock
Or if other rules for ending the match aren’t even met.
So it’s just this whole idea of there’s a stink on the game, so to speak,
And you’ve just got to quit it.
And that’s really where the figurative uses of skunked come about.
You’ll find in the 1840s in newspapers, people talk about one politician or one political party or another being skunked,
Meaning even though you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, whatever had happened in the past had kind of ruined their reputation or had ruined their prospects.
They’re skunks.
And even in linguistics, Brian Garner, who’s a well-known lexicographer and has the Garner’s usage manual, just a respected book.
He talks about language being skunked, which is words that are so disputed in their origin or meaning that you just can’t use them, like hopefully or decimate.
They’re skunked.
So you should just stay away from them so you don’t even open up that argument every time you pop the word out.
Well, it has been a pleasure, and I really, I get this now.
Okay.
Yeah, in a visceral way, clearly.
In a very visceral way.
All right, you take care of yourself.
Give us another call sometime, all right?
All right, well, y’all take good care.
All right, bye.
Bye-bye.
It’s such a distinctive smell that no wonder it generated so much language over the years,
And it’s a phenomenon that you don’t get in every part of the world where the skunk or skunk-like creatures that prey just don’t exist.
Yeah.
Yep.
