I'm off to work, so I don't have time to really search this one. I
recall something in a Safire book on this, but my memory gets worse with
age. "Touch all the bases" used to mean something like "dot your i's and
cross your t's", and that's how I originally heard the expression. Over
the years, it became "touch base", which I can't really make sense of,
even in the idea you note below. My really quick google seems to suggest
that the baseball origin is probably correct, but not definitive.
Mark D Lew wrote:
On Oct 17, 2006, at 10:14 AM, Bruce K H Kau wrote:
My favorite eggcorn, which I've never heard anywhere else, was from a
person who used to be in our marketing department. To say we needed to
stay in communication regarding an issue, she said we need to be on a
"touch basis". Now, I've often heard people say we need to "touch
base" to mean we need to communicate periodically, which actually is a
corruption of "touch all the bases", which you need to do to score a
home run in baseball. But, this was the only person who wanted to be
on a "touch basis". Since I was married, I had to pass the opportunity
up.
Are you sure "touch base" derives from "touch all the bases". Yes, you
need to touch all four for a home run, but there are plenty of instances
where you have to go back and touch the one you're on. Seems more
logical that "touch base" came from one of those.
mdl
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
