Author Archives: mcgeagh

Pickle – Baseball Jargon

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, CA
Performance Date: 3-25-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Matthew Henry McGeagh is my 19 year-old  twin brother. He was born and raised in Pacific Palisades, California. His family history comes from Irish, Catholic, Jewish, German, and Swedish roots; with an emphasis on the Irish culture. He attended Catholic school from kindergarten until 12th grade and was raised Catholic by his family as well. He played many sports growing up and is very athletic. He now plays baseball at the University of Pennsylvania.

“A failry common occurrence in baseball is when a runner is caught in between two bases, in an area in which he can be tagged out and the defensive players are throwing the ball back and forth, trying to get the scampering runner out before he can reach a base safely. This situation is called a ‘Pickle’.”

The actual baseball term for a pickle is called a rundown. This part of a baseball game is generally very spontaneous and it is something that the crowd loves to watch. It is very entertaining and slightly humorous because of the runner’s constant change in direction to try and avoid getting tagged out. If you can picture a rabbit in a confined area, running between too foxes trying to catch it; that is what a rundown looks like. This baseball term comes from another form of folklore in daily speech in which someone may say “I really got myself into a pickle here.” This means that one is in a troublesome situation and is trying to get out of it. This is exactly what the baserunner is trying to do in a Pickle. This is also a funny word, and as stated earlier, this situation in a baseball game is humorous to watch.

As a little league player, we used to play a game called “pickle” in which we would mimic this in-game occurrence. I have heard this term since I was a child and it s a very well-known term in baseball.

An example of a pickle is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxqU_cBPZcc

Chin Music – Baseball Jargon

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, CA
Performance Date: 3-25-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Matthew Henry McGeagh is my 19 year-old  twin brother. He was born and raised in Pacific Palisades, California. His family history comes from Irish, Catholic, Jewish, German, and Swedish roots; with an emphasis on the Irish culture. He attended Catholic school from kindergarten until 12th grade and was raised Catholic by his family as well. He played many sports growing up and is very athletic. He now plays baseball at the University of Pennsylvania.

Matt said, “Man that pitcher was really hitting me with the chin music that at bat.”

My brother said that this baseball lingo refers to a pitch that comes at the hitter, “high and inside.” That means that the ball that was pitched came very close to the batter’s head region but did not hit him. Pitcher’s do not appreciate it when a batter stands close to the plate because it makes it harder for them to throw an accurate pitch (a strike). Therefore, if a batter stands close to the plate, the pitcher may purposely throw the ball close to the batter’s head in order to get him to stand further away. Also, it is harder to hit a ball as a batter if you are further away from the plate, so throwing the ball at the batter’s head would certainly scare him and cause him to step back. The term “chin music” comes from the fact that the ball is pretty close to clocking the batter in the chin. Also, when a ball is pitched you can often hear the speed of it hissing by. The closer the ball is to your ears, the louder you’re going to hear it, hence the “music” part of the phrase.

This phrase is used extremely often and used as an explanation of a pitch, a complaint to an umpire, or a general observation. Players, announcers, and dedicated fans all use this term. It is a term that a baseball player hears often and uses often, whenever the occurrence happens. It is honestly a sort of euphemism for a wild pitch that is looked at as unfair or intentional. I love this sort of jargon, it allows for a common language amongst the culture of the sport.

” Throwing Cheddar ” – Baseball Jargon

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, CA
Performance Date: 3-25-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Matthew Henry McGeagh is my 19 year-old  twin brother. He was born and raised in Pacific Palisades, California. His family history comes from Irish, Catholic, Jewish, German, and Swedish roots; with an emphasis on the Irish culture. He attended Catholic school from kindergarten until 12th grade and was raised Catholic by his family as well. He played many sports growing up and is very athletic. He now plays baseball at the University of Pennsylvania.

Matt said, ” If a pitcher is throwing really fast, then we say that the pitcher is throwing ‘Cheddar’ or that he is throwing ‘Gas’.”

My brother told me that “Cheddar” has come from from a long line of random verbal lore in the baseball community. Originally if a pitcher threw the baseball fast, people would say that he is “throwing hard.” That came from the idea that it is hard to hit a fast pitch. At some point in the creation of baseball’s array of sayings and word replacements, an announcer said that a particularly hard-throwing pitcher was “throwing the good cheese.” Where that came from is unknown, but it stuck and players would be caught saying “Man this guys is throwing cheese today,” and using it whenever it deemed appropriate. My brother said that when he entered high school was when he heard the adaptation of throwing cheese. This adaptation was “Throwing Cheddar” or “Tossing Ched,” simply using a specific type of cheese as a substitute. My brother said this one really stuck, and is one of the only terms that he or his teammates using to describe a really good fastball.

This type of baseball jargon allows for players and dedicated fans to separate themselves from those who only kind of know the sport, or from those who don’t at all. Most people would know what a fastball is just by the terms of the within the word, but very few would understand what “throwing cheddar” meant. This adds a little exclusivity to the game and those who really care and are involved in it.

  • To see use of this particular speech, see bleow.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfLZIAgbE0I  (:55- 1:05)

Invisible Bench – Skit

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, CA
Performance Date: 4-24-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Mary McGeagh is my 15 year old younger sister. She is now a freshman in High School and attending Catholic school her entire life. She is an avid volleyball player and enjoys spending time with friends and going to the beach. She lives with my parents in Pacific Palisades, California and has since she was born. She comes from Irish, German, Jewish, and Swedish roots but mainly was exposed to the cultures of the Irish, Catholics, and Jewish people. She attended a summer camp from the age of 5 to the age of 12 that has many interesting folk tales and traditions. The camp is pretty much run off of its lore and it is what makes it so unique. She carries the lore of St. Matthews Day Camp to this day.

Mary said that a skit is commonly ran on stage in front of everybody and is called the “Invisible Bench,” And it goes like this:

“1 Person squats as if he was sitting on and invisible bench. Then a group of campers come up to him/her and asks what they are doing. The camper replies, “Sitting on the invisible bench, come join!” so the join and proceed to squat as if they were sitting on the bench. This occurrence happens over ad over until there is one camper left and the ‘bench’ is full. The remaining camper walks up and asks what the group is doing. The group answers as such. Then, that camper who asked the question says, “But the invisible bench is over there.” And proceeds to point off into the distance. After this, the campers who are squatting,  look down and fall to the ground because they are not sitting on anything.”

This Skit has been performed for almost 50 years and is an integral part of the folklore of the camp. It is a simple way to make campers laugh, even if they know the end result. It is not known where the skit originated from, but it has been a skit for a long time and is something that all campers in history of the camp have been exposed too at least once.

This skit is very funny and plays off the irony of the initial situation that there is such thing as an invisible bench. Of course, there is no such thing, but this is what makes the performance so funny. It is a performance that contributes to the overall morale and spirit of the camp. It is random and goofy and makes little sense, but that is why it has lasted so long. It holds the aspect of irony that does not limit to age groups. All people can understand it, and all people find it funny or at least clever.

St. Matthews Day Camp – Closing Song

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, California
Performance Date: 4-24-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Mary McGeagh is my 15 year old younger sister. She is now a freshman in High School and attending Catholic school her entire life. She is an avid volleyball player and enjoys spending time with friends and going to the beach. She lives with my parents in Pacific Palisades, California and has since she was born. She comes from Irish, German, Jewish, and Swedish roots but mainly was exposed to the cultures of the Irish, Catholics, and Jewish people. She attended a summer camp from the age of 5 to the age of 12 that has many interesting folk tales and traditions. The camp is pretty much run off of its lore and it is what makes it so unique. She carries the lore of St. Matthews Day Camp to this day.

 

Mary sang: “Saint Matthew’s Day Camp, Saint Matthew’s Day Camp, Scooo-ba-dee-doo, Scooo-ba-dee-doo. Swimming an Hiking, Takes to my liking, Scooo-ba-dee-doo, Scooo-ba-dee-doo, It’s the grooviest camp there is so much to it, all you got to do is get right to it, I like camp and I really want to stamp, for Saint Matthew’s Day Camp. HAZAHHHH!”

This particular song is sung at the closing of every camp day of Saint Matthew’s Day Camp. It is tradition that this is always the last thing sang or said before the campers are sent out for carpool to be picked up by their parents. It is a song that encompasses activities performed regularly at camp and also brings to the table the goofy atmosphere that the camp provides to its campers. The song is companied by a ritual dance that goes along with it. The dance has incredible goofy gestures but my sister could not remember them. This is sung by all campers and staff of any age and allows for everyone to acknowledge that another day of camp has passed. Its a fun-loving way to say good-bye until tomorrow and show appreciation for what the camp does to all people involved.

I am a counselor and was a camper at this camp, and this song has extreme sentimental value. I will remember this song for the rest of my life and it brings me joy every time I sing it. I see that my fellow counselors, my sister, and all campers that I see love and appreciate this song so much. It sums up the overall themes and values that the camp hold and bring together an array of different cultures. It is a beautiful thing and I am glad that my sister brought it up to me as being a genuinely folklore tradition.

Annotation: An example of how the camp is run is shown in this link: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EVCRqjSDw4