Things we say: September 2008 Archives

Pitching a fit

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Well, not exactly. Although I do think that's a big phrase locally, to "pitch a fit."

No, I'm referring to a note I got a while ago from Roy Flinchbaugh of York, responding to my post on using "pitch" to mean "throw away."

Roy writes:

pennacanyon.jpg
This Grand Canyon might not be in York County, but at least it's in Pennsylvania!
Joan, Joan. Shame on you for taking the word of a Baltimore guy about the word "pitch." It is no more York County than the Grand Canyon. My Random House Unabridged Dictionary lists "pitch" meaning "throw or toss" in both transitive and intransitive verb forms. So to "pitch something" meaning to "throw something away" is perfectly acceptable English. Perhaps that is not what is spoken in Baltimore.

And again, in my defense, I must say that when I call something a Yorkism, I in no way mean that it's only done here. I mean that it's done by a lot of the people here - it's something from the great pool of language that all of us Yorkers have all gone down to drink from.

(Anyone get that reference? Maybe some of the folks from our Book Buzz blog would...)


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This page is a archive of entries in the Things we say category from September 2008.

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