Hi there, you have A Way with Words.
Hey there, this is Jim Rogers from Columbia, South Carolina.
Hey Jim, welcome. What can we do for you today?
Well, I called because my wife and I have started to notice over the past few years that when we are watching sporting events, that sportscasters are using a phrase that is on the season. And they typically mean by that that what has happened during this particular sports season. You know, for example, they might say that a certain team is undefeated on the season, or they might give a statistic like a pitcher’s got a certain number of strikeouts on the season.
And as we’ve heard it, you know, we look at each other and we kind of feel like that’s sort of a funny expression and not something that we heard in the past, you know, before the last 10 years or so. But we also kind of are curious, is it grammatically incorrect with the use of that preposition? And because it seems to me like what they’re really saying is this happened during the season or even maybe in the season would be better than on the season. So, but anyway, that’s what we were calling to chat about.
Yeah.
So on the season. And it sounds weird to you. Rubs you the wrong way.
Yeah, that’s right. And, you know, and I’ve thought about it some more. And, you know, like if you think about when fruit is ripe, you know, the fruit is in season. It’s not on season.
Yeah. So it just doesn’t seem like it’s an appropriate use of the word.
Yeah, I can see what you’re saying about during the season. So the, you know, the Cubs scored 12 runs per game during the season. I just made that up. But you could also say for the season. And on the season strikes you as odd because it is language particular to sports.
So you have identified something that is real, and you’ve successfully kind of separated it out from the mainstream language, which is why it sounds odd. But in sports, since, believe it or not, the 1880s, this particular construction has been legitimate.
So you can find, particularly when this first shows up in the sports pages in the 1880s, they’re almost always talking about money. So they’re talking about the receipts or the revenue of a particular sports team.
So here’s a real quote. David Rose says Kansas City is $8,000 ahead on the season. Or it is said that the Jersey City Club lost $12,000 on the season. Or Detroit are said to be $11,000 behind on the season.
So it’s interesting that in the beginning, they’re always talking about the revenue for a team. But eventually they start talking about runs and it’s not just baseball. You might find it in horse racing or cricket or American football.
So they might talk about points on the season or goals on the season or wins on the season. And so it’s one of those truisms that Martha and I always say, which is if something sounds odd to you, there’s almost always a chance that it belongs to another group.
And in this case, it’s sports writers or insider, people who are inside sports and have their own jargon in it, and it leaks out occasionally.
Oh, wow. Yeah. And I would have never thought that it came, at least started with referring to money and earnings.
Yeah. Yeah. And it makes a little more sense there, I think, to talk about money. So you’ll find that actually talking about money in that way is even older than the 1880s. And you’ll find that people talk about it, for example, in theater. They’ll say that a producer is something like $10,000 thus far ahead on the season.
So that’s an actual quote from the 1880s. So it’s not a stretch then to go from money to points or runs or goals or what have you.
Right. And, you know, I’ve never heard it used outside of the sports context. And so it’s interesting that it does get used in some other situation.
Well, it did, but it seems to have settled in sports and kind of not settled in any other field. Do you think the use of it has increased? Because I don’t feel like I heard it as much 10 years ago.
You might be suffering from something known as the recency illusion, which is once we hear something, we notice it more. And maybe the frequency hasn’t changed, but the acuity of your perception has changed.
Understood. Like I just bought a red car, and so now I see red cars.
That’s right. Yeah, we have the same thumb. We bought a Nissan, and now I see the exact model of Nissan everywhere.
Well, thank you for your question.
Thanks for talking with us.
Well, thank you both. Appreciate it, and love the show.
All right.
Take care of yourself.
Bye-bye.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
What’s the word or phrase that’s caught your ear that way? There probably is a great story behind it. Call us, and we’ll talk about it. 877-929-9673.
