Word of the Week - 7-14-2008

Word of the Week
BAWDY
Pronunciation: \ˈbaw-dee\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): bawd•i•er; bawd•i•est
Etymology: bawd
Date: 1513
1 : obscene, lewd
2 : boisterously or humorously indecent


Interesting Fact

There is no single "inventor" of the game of baseball.

Abner Doubleday is traditionally credited with having "invented" baseball, in Cooperstown, NY, in 1839. However, it appears that a man named Alexander Cartwright was actually the inventor, in the respect that he first codified the rules of a game somewhat similar to today's game in 1845.
Doubleday himself never claimed credit for inventing baseball, or even for having been an important figure in its evolution. The only evidence to suggest Doubleday's involvement was a letter (written several decades later) from a man who would have been 5 years old in 1839. Even that letter did not suggest that Doubleday invented any of the modern elements of the game. Furthermore, the letter's author was insane.

In 1839, Doubleday was at the US Military Academy in West Point (he later served as an officer in the Mexican-American War, the Seminole Wars, and the Civil War, advancing to the rank of General in 1862), not in Cooperstown. Though he lived in Cooperstown before attending the Academy, his family moved away about the time he enrolled at the Academy, in 1838, so he would have had no reason to even visit Cooperstown in 1839. In any event, Cooperstown and West Point, though both in the State of New York, are separated by over 170 miles, a prohibitive distance to travel for a weekend, or even a whole week, of leave in those days.
But, to be perfectly honest, Cartwright's claim is little better than Doubleday's. It is, in fact, ridiculous to assign ONE inventor to the game. It evolved over a thousand years from games in England that bear little resemblance to the modern game of baseball, or even cricket (which, by the way, does not disprove the uniquely American nature of the current game). Sure, Cartwright wrote down the "Knickerbocker Rules", but teams had been playing under unwritten versions of those rules for years.
And, truth be told, even Cartwright's rules are a far cry from modern baseball. For example, the number of innings was not set (they played until one team reached a certain number of "aces", which we call runs now); there was no strike zone (batters had to swing and miss to get a strike); there were no home runs, except "inside-the-park homers" (any ball hit outside the field of play was a foul, even if it was over the outfield fence); foul balls never counted as strikes; the distance between the bases was not the same (and was not even standardized); the ball was pitched underhanded (by now you've probably realized that strikeouts were very, very rare); there was no "pitcher's mound", or any other place designated for the pitcher to pitch from (thus, presumably, the pitcher could stand anywhere on the field of play); a batted ball caught after the first bounce but before the second was an out (now it must be caught before the first bounce); the number of players on a team was not specified. Does that sound even remotely comparable to the modern game of baseball?

If you must assign an "inventor" to the modern game of baseball, then it has to be the MLB rules committee, and the date has to be the date (probably sometime in the last year) that the most recent of many, many official rules changes took effect. It is ridiculous to talk about some game played sometime in the past that was "essentially the same" as modern-day baseball. Thousands and thousands of minor changes add up to major changes, and the term "essentially" is way too open to interpretation.
If you want to talk about the first ever game that was called by the name "baseball", then you have to go back to at least 1744 (and completely give up any claim that it is an American invention) to a game that had very, very little resemblance even to Cartwright's rules, let alone modern Baseball.

Trivial Pursuit
Ready to test your TV acumen?
Here are the questions – 1 point for each correct answer
The category this week is Classic:
1. What sport did Ralph famously pretend to have ability in to impress his boss on an episode of The Honeymooners ?

2. Match the guest star with the show he/she appeared on:
a. The A-Team
b. Gilmore Girls
c. Batman
d. Dynasty
e. The Love Boat

1. Andy Warhol
2. Liberace
3. Madeline Albright
4. Boy George
5. Henry Kissinger

3. What was the name of the car that “ran great” in the All in the Family theme song?

4. What did the abbreviation KITT on Knight Rider stand for?

5. Match the restaurant / bar / coffee shop with the corresponding TV series that called it home?
a. Moe’s Tavern
b. The Peach Pit
c. The Regal Beagle
d. Café Nervosa
e. Tropicana Club
f. Monk’s Café
g. Boars Nest
h. Central Perk
i. The Lobo Lounge
j. The Bronze

1. Roseanne
2. Three’s Company
3. Friends
4. Seinfeld
5. The Simpsons
6. Frasier
7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
8. The Dukes of Hazzard
9. Beverly Hills 90210
10. I Love Lucy

6. What planet is ALF from?

7. Match the host with his game show:
a. Bob Eubanks
b. Chuck Woolery
c. Bert Convy
d. Jim Lange

1. Scrabble
2. The $100,000 Name The Tune
3. Tattletales
4. Card Sharks


Here are last week’s answers:
The category last week was Reality:
1. Who is the only professional dancer to appear in all six seasons of Dancing With the Stars? D
a. Louis van Amstel
b. Cheryl Burke
c. Alec Mazo
d. Edyta Sliwinska

2. Which supermodel has not sat alongside Tyra Banks at the judges’ table on America’s Next Top Model? C
a. Vendela
b. Niki Taylor
c. Paulina Porizkova
d. Twiggy

3. Which Bachelor mistakenly offered a rose to the wrong woman during the rose ceremony? C
a. Bob Guiney
b. Charlie O’Connell
c. Jesse Palmer
d. Prince Lorenzo Borghese

4. Solve these American Idol contestant anagrams?
a. Kick mink in bib Nikki McKibbin
b. Be likely mocker Kimberley Locke
c. Rainiest jams Jasmine Trias
d. I’m oily talent Elliott Yamin
e. Imitate olden doll Melinda Doolittle
f. Bonus question – what do the above answers all have in common They all came in third

5. Which was not the name of a Big Brother alliance? D
a. Four Horsemen
b. Nerd Herd
c. Chilltown
d. Bad Boyz
e. Sovereign Six

6. On Project Runway, which of the following was never given as a challenge to contestants? B
a. Make over a fellow cast member
b. Redesign the uniform worn by the UPS drivers
c. Make an outfit for a life-size Barbie
d. Create a design out of recycled material

7. Which player did not quit Survivor due to an injury? C
a. Michael Skupin (Australian Outback)
b. Bruce Kanegai (Panama)
c. Sue Hawk (All-Stars)
d. Gary Stritesky (Fiji)
e. Jonathan Penner (Micronesia)