Showing posts with label Merriam-Webster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merriam-Webster. Show all posts

Saturday, December 27, 2025

Why is there a Bye Week?

I hear a lot about bye/buy/by week in football chatter. So today I asked the coach at our breakfast table. And he explained it, but I wanted to know the origin, not the meaning. I've seen it spelled three ways.

This is what Why Do We Say Teams Get a 'Bye'? | Merriam-Webster site says:
"In sports, bye refers to a team automatically advancing to the next round of tournament play without competing and bye week refers to a scheduled off week for a given team. The term is not related to goodbye but is instead believed to be an alteration of by, as in the team is "standing by" to play later, or "bypassed" while other teams play. One early sport to feature a bye is coursing; the b-y-e spelling is likely influenced by an existing term from cricket in which a wicket-keeper misses a ball."

By vs. Bye: What's the Difference?: Grammarly says:
"The term bye is commonly used in informal conversations as a short way to say goodbye. Additionally, it has a specific application in sports, referring to a situation where a player or team advances to the next round of a competition without having to play."

So "advancing without playing" (which still doesn't make sense to me) seems to be the meaning of "bye" in tournaments, and it's not just football.

Where I live, I hear more sports talk in a week than I used to hear in a year,

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Origin of the term "false narrative"

"Shelby Hewitt was accused of creating "multiple names and dates of birth for herself" and allegedly created a false narrative of a being an "extremely traumatized teen" with special needs, according to prosecutor Ashley Polin."

Just curious. When did the word LIE become a "false narrative?" I know Trump popularized "fake news" which is also LIE, but perpetrated by media. I checked some grammar/dictionary sites and saw the question was being asked 8 years ago. So, it was at least well known in the Obama era. It's not in my 1948 2nd Unabridged or 2012 Collegiate 11th Merriam-Webster. Still don't have an answer. But it looks like sometime during Obama's first term it took off so someone could sound erudite. When I see the Left is overtaking simple language with new words for lie (like affirming care for child mutilation or reproductive health for killing a baby in the womb) I avoid the term. 

Is it a lie with more clever story lines? Or a lie with more deceit?