Got your game face on

Posted by ESC on October 26, 2006

In Reply to: Got your game face on posted by RRC on October 26, 2006

: : : Is "got your game face on" considered an idiom? My son's class has to think of an idiom to be for Halloween. He was going to wear a game face (colts) as his idiom

: : It is indeed an idiom. The original, and I hope correct, meaning has been the subject of discussion on this site. Type "game face" into the search box on the previous page. However, the expression has entered a second phase, in which people assign a meaning to it as suits their needs, which are sometimes commercial. Your son can wear a Colts uniform or helmet to indicate the "game" part of game face, but he had better also adopt a facial expression, and perhaps makeup, indicative of the confident and determined attitude a Colts player must have in order to put fear, or at least respect, into his opponents.
: : SS

: I think he might get a better grade by painting his face like a chessboard or something along those lines. I wonder if he's just trying to find a way around the assignment (i.e. to wear a "normal" costume) by going as a football player/fan.

Game face -- 1980s. U.S. black. One's public face. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green (Wellington House, London, 1998).

I think the above is in agreement with the archives. A face that is devoid of emotion, intimidating. Not letting your opponent see you sweat. On the other hand, I had a class with a young woman who was always smiling. I remarked on it. She said, "It's my game face." Same thing. People couldn't tell what she was really thinking and feeling.