 sj |
||
|
||
BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race
|
|
|
|||||||
|
BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race |
Share Thread
|
||||||
|
Subject: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: clueless don Date: 21 Jan 13 - 11:06 AM I find myself wondering about the origin of the expression "That's what makes a horse race". It seems to be a variation on de gustibus non est disputandum. I tried google, but while I got many examples where it is used, I didn't get any explanation of where it comes from. Going on pure speculation, I hypothesized that it stems from the fact that horse racing (at least as we know it) would not exist without the betting, and it would not exist if everyone always bet on the same horse. The fact that different persons bet on different horses enable it to exist, so "that's what makes a horse race". But that explanation does not, for me, have "the ring of truth". Any other ideas? or actual knowledge? Don |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: GUEST,999 Date: 21 Jan 13 - 04:55 PM It comes from the old notion that to get the equine participant to run fast one had to place freshly ground horse radish just beneath its tail. Then one could point demonstrably and say, "That's what makes a horse race!" It is from 'equus tergum terminus est vere in incendia'. That's just an idea, btw. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: GUEST,Lighter Date: 21 Jan 13 - 07:09 PM I share Don's interpretation. I first heard the expression in New York in 1981. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: Jim Dixon Date: 21 Jan 13 - 07:24 PM "It were not best that we should all think alike: it is a difference of opinion that makes a horse race." I found that attributed to Mark Twain in a book from 1904, but I am skeptical. If it's an authentic quote, I would expect to find it in more places than one. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: Bobert Date: 21 Jan 13 - 07:34 PM Like a song that has been around so long that it wouldn't be fair to attribute it to any one person, "That's wghat it takes to make a horse race" falls into that category... Origin: Trad... B~ |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: clueless don Date: 21 Jan 13 - 09:17 PM Ah, but what it actually takes to make a horse race is horses, probably riders, a starting line, and a finish line. None of those particulars involve a difference of opinion. Don |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: Jim Dixon Date: 21 Jan 13 - 09:18 PM It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races. -- Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar --from the beginning of Chapter 19 of The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, published 1893 --which of course doesn't prove that Mark Twain was the first to say this |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: GUEST,999 Date: 21 Jan 13 - 09:23 PM (The Tragedy of) Pudd'nhead Wilson, Ch 19, first published in 1894. If anyone has the book or is more efficient than I with Project Gutenberg . . . |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: clueless don Date: 22 Jan 13 - 10:09 AM Thank you, Jim, for the Pudd'nhead Wilson reference. Now that I've thought about it for more than five minutes, I suppose it could have come from "My horse is faster!" "No, my horse is faster!" Don |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: GUEST,sciencegeek Date: 22 Jan 13 - 01:09 PM don... having worked with race horses and their crazy humans ( if you asked the horses) there is a little more to the saying... the outcome needs to be uncertain... the best horse does not always win. after everything is done to ensure a fair race (evenly matched opponants)- it is still up to the horse and rider/driver to get over the finish before the other guy. if the match is too uneven, then they shake their heads and say that was no horse race... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: origin - That's what makes a horse race From: clueless don Date: 22 Jan 13 - 01:38 PM Thank you |
