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Under the bus

A

ArtSpooner

Guest
This isn't strictly a radio topic, but if you listen to sports radio you hear the term that so and so was "thrown under the bus" about a hundred times a day. Does anyone know who coined this phrase? Popular phrases seem to run their course and die out. For instance "at the end of the day" was beaten to death but seems to have faded. "Under the bus" just won't seem to go away. I've heard it for years.

Dumb question, but I'd like to know who to blame.
 
ArtSpooner said:
This isn't strictly a radio topic, but if you listen to sports radio you hear the term that so and so was "thrown under the bus" about a hundred times a day. Does anyone know who coined this phrase? Popular phrases seem to run their course and die out. For instance "at the end of the day" was beaten to death but seems to have faded. "Under the bus" just won't seem to go away. I've heard it for years.

Dumb question, but I'd like to know who to blame.
Click to expand...

It appears the Cyndi Lauper is the prime suspect. She was quoted using it in a newspaper or magazine story in the mid-80s about the career arcs of rock and roll performers - "You're either on the bus, or under it."

It resurfaced in 1991 in a Colorado newspaper when a criminal defendant, IIRC, complained that he was going to be "thrown under the bus" by either a co-defendant or a prosecution witness.

Those were the first two instances of it showing up in print, although obviously someone could have used it previously but not had it recorded for prosterity. William Safire discussed it in a language column about slang that he wrote in the NYT magazine.

Regards,
TSB
 
Here's the one that bothers me:

"My bad..."

I believe it's a bastardization of "My bag"....as in "Who got caught holding the bag"

"Oh...my bag" When you got bagged. Which I think references when bags were thrown over subjects upon apprehension.

Wow...I really am bored today
 
Somewhat related--"No problem" is the new "You're Welcome." It's still annoying.
 
"My bad" is not, to my understanding, a bastardization of holding the bag.

Unless I'm mistaken, it comes from sports, as in, "That (mistake) was my bad play." Like when a player fails to pick up a defensive assignment, or throws the ball away. Simply a matter of taking blame. Primarily basketball roots, I think.

One that drives me nuts is, "Irregardless." It's not a word. I think it comes from an amalgamation of "irrespective," and "regardless."
 
I think 'At the end of the day' is, right now, blatantly over-used. I heard this colloquialism all the time in the UK and Ireland when I went there on business in the 1980s and 1990s. Only more recently was the phrase tagged onto the front-end or back-end of almost every verbal editorial you hear these days in this country...sports, political, or otherwise.
 
Its All Good ( When its nothing good about it ) . I lost my Job, My brother had sex with my Wife ,My Son is a Drug Addict , But its All Good .
 
This chain is sort of radio related--at least broadcast related--because I hear quite a few of these annoying phrases used on-air. Particularly at the Fox 25 morning news. My list:

"Weatherwise it's going to be a ...." (Obviously if the weather person, at the map, is speaking, I didn't think she'd mean how the day was going to be otherwise.)
"When it's all said and done." Word economy, folks. Alternatives: "When it's over" "When it ends"
The traffic dude: "Let's have a LOOKSEE." How about just a Look? That word just sounds redundant.
 
Like this thread, I've heard various talk shows have whole segments dedicated to dicussing which phrases really irk them.

All the ones mentioned here and then some. I don't know if it is an act, but some of the hosts r-e-a-l-l-y make a big deal about it.

A total waste of air time IMO.
 
The two that drive me nuts on Fox 25 mornings are:

Now here is Name with the VERY latest. Is the very latest more timely than the latest?

The other is:

Let's take a look at the roadways. Isn't a road pretty much the same?

It seem nobody goes to journalism school to learn how to write and communicate. Television people go to TV school to learn to read a teleprompter. I like it in England where they call them news readers, because that is all they actually do. I still like the idea of giving Maria Stephanos pom poms and let her cheer the news on.
 
Maybe some of us should start using the words: THANK YOU instead of "YUP!" :p

argytunes
 
Pat Lucci said:
The two that drive me nuts on Fox 25 mornings are:

Now here is Name with the VERY latest. Is the very latest more timely than the latest?

The other is:

Let's take a look at the roadways. Isn't a road pretty much the same?

It seem nobody goes to journalism school to learn how to write and communicate. Television people go to TV school to learn to read a teleprompter. I like it in England where they call them news readers, because that is all they actually do. I still like the idea of giving Maria Stephanos pom poms and let her cheer the news on.
Click to expand...

Maria already has great pom poms. Sorry I just couldn't resist.
 
I've sometimes wondered about the usage of "area". What's the difference between "greater Boston" and "the greater Boston area"?

How much farther from Boston proper does "the greater Boston area" extend from just "greater Boston"?
 
"The greater Boston area" is alot closer (geographically) to MetroWest than "greater Boston". :D
 
At the end of the day, "My bad" will get thrown under the bus. (insert emoticon)
 
One more I thought of, another weather-related:

"Depending on where you are."

"It'll be sunny or rainy DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE."

How VAGUE can you get?
 
>Let's take a look at the roadways. Isn't a road pretty much the same?
>
Right. And "You're bumper to bumper on .... ".

No, I'm not. I'm HOME!
 
"___insert_road_here___ is a PARKING LOT!!!"

The last time a road was literally a parking lot was Feb. 1978 (the blizzard)

A parking lot is full of EMPTY cars.
 
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