Something
wicket this way comes
Posted by bob on October
24, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Out OF left field
posted by TheFallen on October 23, 2002
: : : : : : I've had another
request from North America for something that's a bit beyond my knowledge. I guess
the expression has to do with Baseball, but I'd love to know the details. The
writer comes from Canada, but his name sounds French - perhaps he's not interested
in Baseball! Help again please.
: : : : : : Quote:
: : : : : : "Here's one
that I have not been able to uncover... "Out of left field" as in "something came
out of left field". I'm curious to know the origin of this saying"
: : : : :
For more discussion search under "field" in the archives. The way I've heard it:
"He's out in left field."
: : : : : WAY OUT IN LEFT FIELD - Out of touch, eccentric,
odd; also, misguided. This term alludes to the left field of baseball, and there
is some disagreement concerning its origin. Some writers suggest it comes from
the remoteness of left field, but only in very asymmetrical ballparks is left
field more distant than right field. Others suggest it alludes to the 'wrongness'
of left as opposed to the 'rightness' of right. A correspondent of William Safire's
in the "New York Times" said it was an insulting remark made to those who bought
left-field seats in New York's Yankee Stadium during the years that Babe Ruth
played right field, putting them far away from this outstanding player. Perhaps
the most likely theory is that it alludes to inmates of the Neuropsychiatric Institute,
a mental hospital, which was located behind left field in Chicago's old West Side
Park. Hence being told you are 'out in left field' would mean you were accused
of being as peculiar as a mental patient. In any event, the term has been used
figuratively for various kinds of eccentricity and misguidedness since the first
half of the 20th century. John Ciardi also cited a synonym, 'out in left pickle,'
maintaining that 'pickle' was baseball slang for the outfield. Perhaps it once
was, but it is no longer current." "Southpaws & Sunday Punches and other Sporting
Expressions" by Christine Ammer (Penguin Books, New York, 1993).
: : : : I've
heard "out of left field" as a rough equivalent of "off the wall." If a remark
"comes out of left field," it's a non sequitur.
: : : Although from the land
of cricket rather than that silly game of rounders that you all get excited about
in the US, and although my primary source of Americanisms is imported TV shows,
I've always believed this expression to be "out of left field", meaning bizarre
or unconnected, just as Ms. Berg says.
: : : A raw googlefight gives 14,300
for "of" and 10,200 for "in", if anyone's remotely interested.
: : Both are
valid. Left field is far away, and "wrong" as left always is -- so an unexpected
idea, one that comes from no connected thread, a non sequitur, is said to come
from out of left field. The semi-goofy person that issues such utterances is said
to be out in left field, far away from the conventional and connected. (Our position,
of course, is at home plate*, because these judgments are all relative to you
and me, who are, need I add, perfectly normal.) *where the batsman stands, facing
the bowler ....
: You mean, at the crease. Actually, I have to give it to the
US here, because "out of left field" is a lot more zippy an expression than any
mythical Brit equivalent, which might be something like "from near the mid-off
boundary" or "from deep in the covers".
I'll say. Nothing slows my progress
(well, yes, to a halt) in doing British crossword puzzles than being expected
to know cricket crap. I mean, asking the first name of an Aussie batsman who scored
prodigiously in the '30s is a question that comes out of lef -- oh, never mind.
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