(10-17-2014 06:25 PM)75src Wrote: Also, I remember Matson throwing the shot put for A&M.
Ooh, an opportunity for a linguistic digression...
The phrase "shot put" preserves two little bits of the rich history of the great English language.
- First, it preserves one of the original meanings of the verb "put". As most of you know, the phrase "shot put" is analogous to the phrase "discus throw", in that it describes an action rather than an object. The object that one throws (or "puts") is simply a shot. The phrase is interesting because it is a rare modern example of one of the original meanings of the verb "put": "to push".
In fact, the two clearest (only?) modern examples of that archaic meaning of "put" both have to do with sports:
-- In track & field, where one "puts" the shot. The usage reflects the fact that when an athlete propels the shot, he was (and still is) sort of pushing it through the air rather than throwing it like a javelin or discus or baseball. So referring to the event as the "shot put" is more precise, and therefore more interesting, than calling it the "shot throw".
-- In golf, where "put" meaning "push" has morphed into the variant spelling/pronunciation "putt". Again, the action that the verb refers to reflects the "push" meaning of the word "put" quite clearly. Pushing a ball is a different act from hitting or striking it, and it's good to use a different word.
(It seems like it would have been reasonable if in baseball, a bunt had come to be called a "put" or "putt"; but that's not what happened. Language is anything but consistent!)
- Second, the word "shot" as used in track & field is also interesting, as it is a rare modern example of one of the original meanings of the noun "shot": an object that is (or has been) propelled by shooting (as from a sling or catapult, long before gunpowder). That particular meaning survives today in the collective noun "shot" for the pellets in a shell; and obviously the more general meaning of "shot" as the act or result of shooting is quite common today. But the only modern example I can think of where "shot" is used today to refer to a single discrete object is the "shot" in track & field.
So a simple sports phrase preserves the ancient and otherwise-lost meanings of not one but two deceptively simple English words.