Something
sinister?
Posted by Shae
on October 24, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Something
wicket this way comes posted by TheFallen on October 24, 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 Perhaps it once was, but it is no longer
current."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.
: Don(ald)
Bradman. We're about to get pasted in another Ashes series over the coming weeks,
too. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
Dunno if it has any relevance,
but the left or sinistral side is usually associated with danger or evil in medieval
art. In depictions of Adam and Eve, for example, Eve the Temptress is always on
Adam's left side.
- Sinistr- Bruce Kahl 10/24/02
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