You know when you get kneed right across the old thigh. drops you like a sack of potatoes. why is that injury called a charley horse?
According to this it comes from baseball… but I seem to remember a different explanation somewhere else…
OK, Webster’s:
ballplayers’ slang, c. 1888; prob. with reference to a lame racehorse [Informal] a cramp or soreness in a muscle, specif. of the thigh, caused by strain
Pep, this question surfaces every six months or so. Ya’ gotta use the search function:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=5804
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=11674
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=49306
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=68466