# The etymology of "spin" (WRT public relations)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 22, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469 "2011-06-22T19:29:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/1 "2011-06-22T19:29:23Z")
“Spin” has acquired an additional definition in recent decades, referring to the particular emphasis or deemphasis of facts in a story to produce a response deemed favorable by whomever is telling the story.
Or something like that.
So how did “spin” come to be used in this fashion? Is it a reference to the “spin” associated with [subatomic quarks,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_(physics)) which drastically alters their behavior? Is it about the “spin” imparted to a cue ball or bowling ball by a player so as to dodge certain obstacles while hitting others?
Something else?
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/2 "2011-06-22T19:43:55Z")
Hard to be certain. Could also have come from golf or tennis. **Samclem** , I believe, is one poster who is very good at rooting out first or early usages for various mundane contemporary turns of phrase – I’d be interested in his input.
Meanwhile, just thinking it through: it’s not much of a semantic leap to go from “_This is damaging information … how do we turn this around?_” to “_How do we spin this around?_” to “_How do we spin this?_” This kind of on-the-fly semantic shift is very common in human language.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/3 "2011-06-22T19:45:04Z")
The OED dates the usage from 1973. It probably derives from the same common source of a ball spinning. It could be from pool/billiards (though the term in that case is “english”) or baseball (one of the earliest entries for “spin doctor” indicates this, but it’s from the Toronto Globe and Mail, a decade after the term of political spin was first used). I doubt it has anything to do with subatomic physics, since newspapers and politicians are not likely to use something so technical when a more prosaic source is available.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/4 "2011-06-22T19:58:47Z")
The connection to spin on balls, like in pool, seems obvious to me. In both cases, you’re taking a hit from a particular direction (presumably a negative one), and twisting it so that the end result is that your ball, or politician, moves in a direction more to your liking.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/5 "2011-06-22T21:06:41Z")
Might bowling also be a contender?
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/6 "2011-06-22T21:14:52Z")
[1968 article](http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GGRSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xHsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7195,5080469&dq=verbal+spin&hl=en) using the term ‘verbal spin.’ My guess would be pool, also.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/7 "2011-06-22T22:20:07Z")
See [www.word-detective.com](http://www.word-detective.com) and check the Archive. That’s the website written by Evan Morris, the Word Detective. Here’s the link to his specific column: [Issue of July 21, 2004](http://www.word-detective.com/072104.html#spin) doctor … Basically, he ties it to “spin” in cricket (the game, not the insect.)
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### Author:  [@Themenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themenin)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/8 "2011-06-22T22:44:51Z")
I could probably spin a good yarn about the origins of this term, but I don’t really know…
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-etymology-of-spin-wrt-public-relations/586469/9 "2011-06-23T01:18:23Z")
I’ve been in public relations for 30 years. I can’t tell you where the term “spin” came from, but I can assure you the number of terms appropriated by the industry from the field of subatomic physics is vanishingly small.🙂