![](\"http:\/\/dowbrigade.com\/images\/onehop.jpg\")
Most of the time the parts of our brain responsible
\n for our career as an English teacher and the part of our brain responsible
\n for our career as a Red Sox fan are completely separate, and that’s the
\n way we like it.<\/p>\n
But once in a while, like we we get to escort a group
\n of students to Fenway Park, or when a Sox player will say something in
\n a locker room interview like, "I ain’t never been affiliated with none
\n of them substances," the wires get crossed and we get to play both roles
\n at the same time.<\/p>\n
Lately, this has been happening more and more when we
\n are listening to games, both on radio and TV. It seems a new usage has
\n come into vogue for the term to one-hop the fence.<\/p>\n
Now, to the best of our recollection, and from our long-gone
\n youth on the diamonds of upstate New York, to "one-hop the wall" means
\n to bounce once and go over the wall – a ground rule double in any league
\n from little to major.<\/p>\n
But recently we have heard of balls one-hopping the
\n wall, and simultaneously bouncing off the wall and returning to the field
\n of play. That is, using "to one-hop" to mean "reaching and bouncing
\n OFF of" rather than "reaching and bouncing OVER". <\/p>\n
As in, "Ortiz smokes one on a rope to center field.
\n It one-hops the wall, and by the time Damon tracks it down, Big Popi
\n cruises into second with a stand-up double."<\/p>\n
We don’t know why this bothers us, but it does. "Get
\n over it," we tell ourself, "it’s just a new usage, the language changes,
\n that’s how you tell it’s not dead."<\/p>\n
But let’s save "one-hops the fence" for those ground-rule
\n doubles, please. "Bouncing off the wall" is a dramatic enough image,
\n conjuring up as it does over-caffinated kids and
\n trips to the rubber room.<\/p>\n
Next on the language front: The Dowbrigade’s proposal
\n to eliminate the letter "X" from the alphabet.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most of the time the parts of our brain responsible for our career as an English teacher and the part of our brain responsible for our career as a Red Sox fan are completely separate, and that’s the way we … Continue reading