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mattp

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I've always been interested in etymology, and was wondering if anyone knows anything about the origin of the term sandbagging.

 

Recently, I've been asking random people if they know the word, and most give me a strange look of incomprehension.

 

In the dictionary, the only definition that comes close to the way climbers use the term is "to force by crude means, to coerce." But that doesn't really reflect the flexibility of the word, which climbers use as a noun, verb and adjective.

 

A google search reveals the following uses of sandbagging:

 

"Sandbagging is deceptive play in poker that is roughly the opposite of bluffing: betting weakly with a strong holding rather than betting strongly with a weak one."

 

"Traffic cops team up with sandbagging, mafia-connected, highway-construction, multi-billion-dollar global corporations..."

 

"I hope we're all running to take Ecuador off the second round of our World Cup brackets, or they're dedicated to sandbagging Mexico and Italy."

 

"Sandbagging is the process over an internet go server (or in an over-the-board tournament) of deliberately setting your rank lower than it should be."

 

"As this year’s tests wrap up, the Fords have been most accused of sandbagging. The Pontiacs seem to have been a little slower than the Dodges and Chevy's as well, but haven’t faced the same accusations."

 

We all know what sandbagging is, but where did the word come from?

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Good question UT. In most other realms "sandbagging" means to understate your own abilities with the intent to gain some advantage. In climbing lingo you're understating the difficulties of the task not your ability.

 

I guess the two could meet if you've got something so wired that you can float it and make it look easy. Then you can sandbag the victim by walking the problem and saying, "I'm sure you can do this. You're a way better climber than me."

 

[ 11-13-2002, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: chucK ]

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i've never heard the term "sandbag" used outside of climbing,

so i always assumed that it's stemmed from the experience of getting on a climb and having it be so much harder than you were told that you feel like you're climbing with a big ole bag'o'sand tied to ya...

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Okay, so my little Webster's New World Dictoinary of the *American* (as my Canadian officemate liked to point out...) Language has, under the verb form of sandbag:

"[Colloq.] to force into doing something"

 

So I guess you get forced into doing a climb when someone tells you "hey it's easy, no problem, you can totally do it", cause then you'd feel like a total looser if you didn't [Razz]

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quote:

Originally posted by iain:

quote:

Originally posted by thelawgoddess:

i think the word "sandbag" comes from theatre. don't quote me on that, though. not sure how it came to get its current meaning ...

you've just doomed yourself to all kinds of theatre rigging spray now...
[laf]
"friggin' in the riggin'" anybody know that song [big Grin]
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ok, maybe I’m just making this up, but I seem to remember reading once that “sandbagging” comes from the 18th & 19th century tradition of press-ganging, where ships in need of crew would basically run through towns kidnapping people who would then wake up on board, headed for india or somewhere. this practice was legal in england for 200 years! the favorite weapon of these folks was a sock or bag filled with sand because it didn’t do permanent damage and it didn’t *look* like a weapon. the press gangers would mingle with other sailors, get them drunk, and then *wham*, welcome to the navy. I think the term sandbagging comes from the apparently innocuous appearance of the weapon… this probably won’t convince anyone, but I wanted you to all know what a book-loving nerd I am.

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quote:

Originally posted by forrest_m:

ok, maybe I’m just making this up, but I seem to remember reading once that “sandbagging” comes from the 18th & 19th century tradition of press-ganging, where ships in need of crew would basically run through towns kidnapping people who would then wake up on board, headed for india or somewhere. this practice was legal in england for 200 years! the favorite weapon of these folks was a sock or bag filled with sand because it didn’t do permanent damage and it didn’t *look* like a weapon. the press gangers would mingle with other sailors, get them drunk, and then *wham*, welcome to the navy. I think the term sandbagging comes from the apparently innocuous appearance of the weapon… this probably won’t convince anyone, but I wanted you to all know what a book-loving nerd I am.

ah-HA!

that would explain the other verb form of the word "sandbag" in my lil dictionary:

"to hit with a sandbag"

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