Why do Americans say ‘charley horse’ when they get cramp.
How wide spread it the saying and do young people still use it?
Charley horse. It’s not so common today as it once was.
Well, what do you call it in New Zealand?
That’s interesting, thank you Q.E.D. So it’s not really cramp, it’s a pulled muscle.
MelC, as a frequent sufferer of charleyhorses, it’s nothing like a pulled muscle. I wouldn’t categorize it as an injury, at least.
It’s not like a cramp really, either, although that’s closer. It’s something else entirely. Like a muscle just freaking out on you. The severe spasm usually stops within a minute, but it leaves the muscle tender for a while.
In answer to Jpeg Jones, we call it ‘cramp’ or ‘pulled muscle’ - no pet names, but then again we called the north island of NZ, The North Island and the south, The South Island.
Then I guess, Q.E.D.'s link has a different definition of Charley Horse. I know I always thought it was cramp that my Merkin friends were refering to.
I always thought it was a pulled muscle and got irritated when my wife used the phrase for a sudden cramp. It turns out she learned that usage from her mother, who grew up in Louisville, KY and I learned it from baseball announcers. So I think the term must be regional. So there!
We have charlie horses here in Ohio, generally only used in reference to calf muscles. Definitely not a “pull.” It’s a cramp, when the muscle turns into a ball.
Owie.
What I’ve never heard is a term for the sudden intense pain you can get if you turn your head too fast. On the other hand, my husband claims he’s never had this happen, so maybe it isn’t that common.
Julie
I always thought a Charley Horse was when you got punched in the thigh.
Whether a cramp or a pulled muscle, it’s a term, as QED cited, that appears in the US in 1886. That’s as far as can be ascertained. Any dialogue related to the origin is merely speculative. It was a know term in that year, and it DEFINITELY was a baseball term. Whether it has an earlier, unrelated usage is doubtful, though anything is possible.
The story of the horse is almost certainly hooey.
According to The Word Detective, it is “a muscle cramp or soreness in the arm or leg”. So you’re all right.
"Yet another theory, and one that thankfully does not involve limping equines, holds that a player for Boston in the 1880’s named Charley Radbourne was popularly known as “Old Hoss.” As reported years later (1907) in a Washington Post article recently unearthed by slang expert Barry Popik, Radbourne was rounding the bases after hitting a home run in a game with Providence when his leg muscles seized up, bringing him painfully to the ground. Another player rushed to his aid, asking, “What’s a mattah wit you, Charley Hoss?” And, says the Post, “from that day to this lameness in baseball players has been called ‘Charley Hoss,’ or ‘Charles Horse.’” "
Finding whether there really was such a player and incident should be fairly easy for you US-based types.
Finding the player–yes.
Finding the incident, NO If it truly occured, it wouldn’t have been noteworthy enough for a newspaper report in the 1880’s.
Definitely was a player. He’s in the Hall:
Charley Radbourn
Charles Gardner Radbourn (Old Hoss)
Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 5’ 9", Weight 168 lb.
Debut May 5, 1880
Born December 11, 1854 in Rochester, NY
Died February 5, 1897 in Bloomington, IL
As to the incident, no idea.
Julie