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Discussion Groups / British English / April 2004Bush's "bush" (unprofessional) behavior
I knew the word "bush league" (minor league), but I didn't know "bush" (unprofessional) by itself can be used as an adjective. ____ My question: How common is this usage? ____ http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary Main Entry: 5bush Function: adjective Etymology: short for bush-league : falling below acceptable standards : UNPROFESSIONAL <bush behavior> ____ My question: How common is this usage? ____ My guess is that it's pretty uncommon, otherwise there would've been lots of headlines like "Bush's Bush Behavior: Brand-new Boo-boo by the Blundering, Bungling Baboon" In the UK, also add: Bloody Bush: bonobo-brained bubba > >I knew the word "bush league" (minor league), but [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >____ My question: How common is this usage? ____ I used to hear it a lot playing basketball games in the 70s.. Someone might grab a shirt to prevent someone from getting to a ball, or a superior team might run up the score needlessly against an inferior team. In either event, you'd hear "Man, that's bush!" as a complaint. It wasn't strictly Ebonics, but blacks used the term a lot. >My guess is that it's pretty uncommon, otherwise >there would've been lots of headlines like [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th >http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html T. Z. wrote on 11 Apr 2004: > > I knew the word "bush league" (minor league), but [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Bush: bonobo-brained bubba While "bush league" was common when I was in high school in the '50s, "bush" was not often used. M-W11 dates the usage from 1959, though. Perhaps it was more common in other parts of the US. I lived in metro NYC/NJ.  SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor. For email, ehziuh htiw rehpycrebyc ecalper. >While "bush league" was common when I was in high school in the '50s, >"bush" was not often used. M-W11 dates the usage from 1959, though. >Perhaps it was more common in other parts of the US. I lived in metro >NYC/NJ. I grew up in the same area, at the same time and although "bush league" was more common, I did hear and use the word "bush" to describe unprofessional behavior whether in sports or general life. I'm of the generation who still believe that dancing in the end zone or high-fiving everyone in the dugout is "bush". "Strictly Bush", describes someone who is in over his head or isn't even aware of the higher level of performance of those around him. Nevertheless, there is no question that "bush" is just a shortened form of "bush league". Brian Wickham > >While "bush league" was common when I was in high school in the '50s, > >"bush" was not often used. M-W11 dates the usage from 1959, though. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Nevertheless, there is no question that "bush" is just a shortened > form of "bush league". I have known and used 'bush' for years to describe rough work, such as 'bush carpentry', 'bush job', bush repair', etc. It generally applies to work conducted in a 'patch up - do for now' sort of style, as one would make do with in the bush, or away from civilization. It's very common on this side of the planet. (Down under.) > Nevertheless, there is no question that "bush" is just a shortened > form of "bush league". Not everywhere, cf. Canada where even townsmen use "the bush" to mean the unfarmed wilderness, more or less cognate with Dogpatch. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > > Nevertheless, there is no question that "bush" is just a shortened > > form of "bush league". [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > unfarmed wilderness, more or less cognate > with Dogpatch. But "bush league" referred to small-town baseball teams/leagues--those that were out in the bush. I think the image is of baseball being played in pastures, with intermittent thistles and cow-pies as obstacles to be knocked down to enable play. On 11 Apr 2004, Pat Durkin wrote >>> Nevertheless, there is no question that "bush" is just a >>> shortened form of "bush league". [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > thistles and cow-pies as obstacles to be knocked down to enable > play. That's the image of "bush league", but surely the "league" part isn't inevitably associated with "bush". To me, "the bush" means simply that: unsettled/unfarmed wilderness. "Bush league", on the other hand, is a step up from that: it implies rudimentary organisation, probably with pretensions. (As you say, small-town baseball teams/leagues, not just random pick-up or sand- lot games: "We may be in the bush, but, hey: we're players in this here league, y'know...") SignatureCheers, Harvey Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years; Southern England for the past 21 years. (for e-mail, change harvey to whhvs) >That's the image of "bush league", but surely the "league" part isn't >inevitably associated with "bush". [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >lot games: "We may be in the bush, but, hey: we're players in this >here league, y'know...") Granted that in Canada they use the term "bush" to refer to the "outback" and they do also in Australia where even Americans know that "the bush" means the hinterlands. We even know that a "bush pilot" is someone who flies a small plane into remote areas with little or no landing facilities. But in the US "bush" and not "the bush" is short for "bush league". Vive la difference Brian Brian Wickham: > > Nevertheless, there is no question that "bush" is just a shortened > > form of "bush league". Don Phillipson: > Not everywhere, cf. Canada where even townsmen use "the bush" to mean the > unfarmed wilderness, more or less cognate with Dogpatch. Don (and Harvey Van Sickle) must be from some other Canada, where "townsmen" is a word and "the bush" has what I would call its Australian meaning. In any case, I agree with Brian; "bush" in connection with unprofessional behavior is short for "bush league". This is familiar to me, but I don't remember where I picked it up from. SignatureMark Brader "You have seen this incident, based on Toronto sworn testimony. Can you prove that it msb@vex.net didn't happen?" -- Plan 9 from Outer Space My text in this article is in the public domain. Nice allegories. |
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