Touch Base vs. Touch Bases

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, how are you?

My name is Marcy, and I’m calling from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Welcome to the show, Marcy. What can we do for you?

Thank you. Well, I have a little story that I want to share. My sister and I, we are very close. And so if anything comes up, we can always, you know, share our feedback. She typically says that she wants to touch bases. And I was taken aback a little bit when she first said that. And I said, I think it’s actually supposed to be touch base. Anytime I want to connect with someone, I say I want to touch base with this person. And when my sister said touch bases, I thought, I don’t think you got that right.

But a couple weeks later, someone else said touch bases. And then a couple months later after that, someone said, listen, I can’t wait to touch bases with you. And I thought, oh, my goodness, is this me? Is this regional? I’m not sure what this is. By touch bases, they mean to make contact and communicate with each other, catch up, that kind of thing. Is that what they meant?

Yes.

What are you picturing when you say touch base?

I’m picturing somebody, you know, running from the first base to the second base to the third base, but never all four bases at the same time. So even the visual image that I have in my mind is you get to a base and you kind of touch it and you stay there until you can go to the next one.

Yeah, so you’re making contact with the base, in other words. You’re touching it with your foot, usually.

Right. Yeah, there may be the influence of baseball because, as you said, you touch a base and you make contact with the base. Although we’re not entirely sure that it comes from baseball. People have also theorized that maybe it comes from touching base like in the old game of hide and seek. You know, if you’re hiding and it is looking for you, if you run and touch base, then you’re safe.

So the truth is we’re really not sure of the origin of this, but you are correct that it’s far more common to say touch base rather than to say touch bases. We don’t know the origin for sure, but probably it has been influenced at least by those two games. I would guess that touch bases is a reformulation by people who assumed it had something to do with baseball. And in my experience, touch basis has a slightly different connotation. It’s about not only contacting someone, reaching out to them, but it’s also about running through a list or running through some to-dos or going through a procedure or things that have to happen in order.

Oh, so you’re touching all the bases then. You’re making the rounds.

Oh, that’s interesting. Okay. I got it. I feel a sense of relief now just knowing that.

Yay! Yay! That it’s not an either or, it’s a both and. And, I mean, my sister and I both are correct in that sense.

Yeah. And that it’s neat showing how language can evolve and incorporate.

Right. Absolutely. Exactly. That’s what we try to talk about on the show. It’s not bad. It’s just different.

Thank you. Thank you both. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

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