Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origin 62. The word origin today is
jockey and we will cover some other idioms that's also related to the word
jockey or has the word jockey in them. All right. So let's look at the note here.
The word jockey comes from the Scottish name
Jock. All right. Yes. Of course, which
was equal to John. Jockey is actually a diminutive for Jock. Yeah. So remember we
say like a diminutive, it's the often the shorter name or name that somebody might
use for them when they are a small kid. Like for example if somebody who's named
Thomas or Tom they might call them Tommy. Or if somebody was called Bob, they might
call them Bobby. This is what we mean by a diminutive. It's usually used with you
know, children or to children. When they grow older , they may choose to use you
know , the other name like Bob or Tom the more formal name or Thomas. All right Well
let's continue here. All right and Jock was also used to mean boy or fellow.
That's also important coming up. So sometimes you know especially in England
and stuff there's a lot of people named John so it just became kind of a name
for a boy or young man or something. Fellow dating all the way back to the
1500s. In the 16th and 17th centuries , the word jockey started to be used with
horse dealers you know, the people that like sold horses or had a business with
horses, and the horse riders. All right. So the riders of the horses. Our present-day
meaning applies to a man who rides horses only in races. So that's the
meaning today. Okay. Let's continue. The use of the word
jockey has also led to the origins of several other phrases such as jockey
shorts, bench jockey, desk jockey, and jockey for
position. All right. So let's look at some here. Jockey shorts just really refers to
men's or boys tight-fitting underwear. Yes. Sometimes I used to wonder why do they call
it jockey shorts ? Does it look like the shorts jockeys wear ? Why are we calling it
jockey shorts ? Probably just because you know jockey traditionally also really
referred to boy or or fellow. So it's just a man shorts or a boy's shorts,
their underwear. Okay. Yeah. So I mean if you wanted an example, you could say he, he
bought three pairs of jockey shorts today. All right. Let's look at the next one.
A bench jockey refers to a baseball coach or player who will heckle or
criticize either the umpire or opposing players. Yes. So they will probably yell
things like, you're terrible. You're no good. You're nervous or whatever it is. Try to
intimidate them or get them you know to to lose their concentration in the game.
So they'll make mistakes and and your team could get an advantage. Okay. The
idea alludes to riding someone. So this is a second meaning of the word, to ride
or if you ride someone, it means to criticize or harass them. So that's how
they get the idea of bench jockey. So you know a bench jockey, they would probably be a
you know, a backup player or a benchwarmer.
This is the one person that usually has more time to be yelling at stuff like this,
and that's why it came to be bench jockey. So again , if you want an example
you could say you know, that backup player you know, is often a bench jockey.
He yells out or criticizes you know, umpires calls or you know the other
players or something like that. All right. Let's continue. Desk jockey.
All right, refers to someone who spends the majority of their time seated at a desk
like a jockey must sit on his horse. So you're forced to stay. They are forced to stay
sitting down. So that's, that's where that came from. So
they call it a desk jockey. Again if you want an example we could say you know
being a desk jockey you know, somebody who works in the office all the time... is
a is a sedentary type of a job. Because you're forced to sit all the
time. That's a sedentary type of a job. So you're not probably not getting enough
exercise. All right and let's continue here. With the last one to jockey for
position means to try to compete with others like a jockey competes for
position. So as that ... especially though as the race gets going, and one horse is
trying to get ahead of another horse, they're trying to get the better
position. Obviously the inside is the best position. Because then you can you know,
it's the shortest way around the track and you know, if there's a horse that
has to catch up, he's got to get ahead and try to get into that position. So
yeah. Like , like for this we could use you know, presently in the US there's a lot
of candidates running for the Democrat Party. In their debates you could say
they're trying to jockey for position to be noticed. You know, so they're all
trying to say things. Sometimes they criticize the others. You know, in order
to try to make themselves look better. And then there's also jockey for
position just like . a real jockey may try to jockey for position to get a
better position in order to hopefully win the race. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got
it. I hope it was clear. I hope... I hope it was very informative, and I hope you
enjoyed it. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.