OT-HAVE a catch / PLAY catch?
I've always said "play catch" but realized after I moved to New York that lots of people say "have a catch."
From the Midwest, I thought the difference might be regional, "having a catch" a phrase used by people in the East—or at least by writers influenced by Eastern usage. For instance, there's a national report—often meaning reported by writers in the Northeast—about Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. having a catch before the Field of Dreams game.
Do you say "have a catch" or "play catch"? Has anyone else noticed a regional difference?
August 12th, 2022 at 6:34 AM ^
"Play catch" for me. I had never heard of the term "have a catch" until I watched the movie. And I have been heavy into baseball since I was 4 years old.
August 12th, 2022 at 7:39 AM ^
Kevin Costner asks his "dad" if he wants to "have a catch" at the end of Field of Dreams. I love the movie, but that phrase doesn't sit well with me.
My sister just visited that field and farmhouse last week, and told me there are signs with that phrase on it. I just can't. "Wanna play catch" is all I've ever known.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
Always disliked that line as well. What's interesting is Costner is from California and seems to have played so is this a Cali and eastern expression? If not, was it intentional because his character's dad was from NY? As an actor, if it was me, I woulda had questions.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
I admit that line struck me as odd when I first saw the movie but I love it now. I grew up "playing catch" with my friends. But "having a catch" with your dad seems right. Almost tear up thinking about it.
August 12th, 2022 at 6:55 AM ^
There are some strange mannerisms in the NE/Mid-Atlantic region. One is how some people say time, such as "quarter of 12" when most others would say "quarter to 12".
August 12th, 2022 at 7:26 AM ^
Another regional difference:
In the Midwest (and California, Oregon, Florida, Georgia), people stand "in line."
But in New York (and the Northeast?), people say they stand "on line." (There's a folk etymology that claims this usage comes from immigrants standing "on" lines on the floor at Ellis Island but that's only speculation, with no historical evidence. My speculation is that "on line" is an English translation from European languages.)
HOWEVER, the common use of "online" for computer use seems to be making standing "in line" more common in the East now too.
August 12th, 2022 at 7:36 AM ^
I believe Vince Vaughn proved that the correct term is "on the line".
August 12th, 2022 at 8:09 AM ^
Not one of his better movies but it certainly had a few bright spots.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:10 AM ^
I don't know which Vaughn movie that is but it sounds less "proof" of usage than about his confidence / ego. (He doesn't seem the kind of guy who ever thinks he's anything but obviously correct.)
English is a weird language, and words & phrases develop differently, in different places and over time, so though "have a catch" and standing "on line" sound strange to me, it's not that they're incorrect.
The problem for me is that New Yorkers assume their usage is obviously correct.
August 12th, 2022 at 9:12 AM ^
Every time I hear "on line" I just think that person is stupid (even though I know it's a New York thing), but it just simply is not correct. Other differences are debatable; this is not. My family is from Ohio, but I grew up in CT/MA and we never said "on line".
August 12th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
Yes, I say both fairly interchangeably I think, but "on line" seems more natural and correct to me. And you're right: I always envisioned standing on a literal line on the ground and that's what it came from.
And "play catch" is acceptable but we always said "have a catch" similar to "have a drink" or " have a conversation": an action that is shared by the participants.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:08 AM ^
Soda or Pop? I prefer Fizzy Lifting Drink with a good burp.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:33 AM ^
Neither. The correct word is coke for everything.
August 12th, 2022 at 9:03 AM ^
This is so true in Atlanta.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
We've lived in Atlanta for seven years and I don't think we've had a single Pepsi product in our house since. My wife absolutely refuses to touch any of it.
I honestly think she'd rather give up soft drinks altogether than ever drink a Pepsi product.
August 12th, 2022 at 9:11 AM ^
actual conversation at a small memphis restaurant ~20 years ago.
Me: I'll have a coke
Server: what kind?
Me: regular?
Server: ??
Me: ??
Server: well, we have sprite, dr pepper, diet coke, coke, fanta ...
Me: Coke. Regular.
Server: but which one???
August 12th, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
This seems common throughout the south. I've heard the same thing in Texas.
"Coke" is used as a generic term for soda (or "pop" for Michiganders). If you want an actual Coke, you have to ask for a "Coca-Cola"
August 12th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
I’ve lived in Texas for 15 years, in several regions and cities both big and small, and was on the road meeting with clients about wherever there were expressways in the state. I’ve had many people tell me this about “a Coke” being a term for sodas in general, yet I can’t remember someone actually using it even once. I’m starting to think it was a thing and no longer is, at least in Texas.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
Yep. That's Georgia.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:32 AM ^
Why intentionally use a term that confuses everyone when all you want is a crystal pepsi?
August 12th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
You in the wrong part of town if that's what you're ordering here. We don't take kindly to your type.
August 12th, 2022 at 2:55 PM ^
I'll take a Zima.
August 12th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
Why? To honor a company with a history of hiring paramilitary death squads to attack employees that try to start unions?
Fuck Coca-cola.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:44 AM ^
Just don't touch the sides of the chamber on your way up, or they'll have to sanitize it and you'll get screwed out of your lifetime supply of chocolate.
August 12th, 2022 at 6:56 AM ^
Play
August 12th, 2022 at 7:26 AM ^
From the Midwest?
August 12th, 2022 at 7:16 AM ^
I’m from Michigan and we always said play catch.
on a similar note, when catching a fly ball during a game we would call out “mine” or “I got it” but my college roommate from Chicago would say “I go”. What’s common in your region?
August 12th, 2022 at 7:21 AM ^
I've never heard "I go," as a player in the Midwest or East, or as a Little League coach in New York.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:11 AM ^
I coached Little League in the Chicago area for years. On a pop fly, coaches yell “call it” and the kids said “mine”.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:28 AM ^
Growing up in metro Detroit, I learned to call "I got it," but then once when I was 11 I called "You get it" on a ball hit halfway between me and Eric. We both looked at each other, because he had heard "got it" when I had said "get it."
Since then I've used "Mine" and "Yours." Never had a problem again.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:21 AM ^
Here in Chicago, on a soccer field, “I go” is a phrase that’s used for under lapping / over lapping runs, or to engage the ball when multiple players could play it. This is, in a way, similar to calling a pop up / fly ball in baseball.
August 12th, 2022 at 9:35 AM ^
Can confirm.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:13 AM ^
Aha! I bet that's the origin of "I go" in baseball.
That's ALSO the way I was taught tactical advance of a squad of soldiers in the Army. You'd either yell "I go" on your turn to move up, or yell "you go."
(It wasn't random but taking turns, or else one guy would keep saying "You go!" I'm sure that's been done in comic movies.)
August 12th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
Those dang two sport kids!
August 12th, 2022 at 8:50 AM ^
My two sons play a lot of high level baseball here in Florida. Now they yell out "Ball" which quite frankly is far more efficient at one syllable than "I got it", which is what I grew up with.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:57 AM ^
I grew up saying "I got it" until I played outfield in high school. That's when the coach insisted we yell "I have it." His rationale was that other teams might try to screw up our defense by yelling "I got it." So if if a fly ball went up and you heard someone yell "I have it," you knew it was a legit call from a teammate.
Sounds weird, but it always worked.
August 12th, 2022 at 9:02 AM ^
Grew up in Bay City and played baseball all day during the summer. We said all 3 of those.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
Really. I've never heard that overlap. Relatively recent?
August 12th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
I graduated from HS in 1986. We used it in baseball and then into the beer league softball in Ann Arbor. I'd mix it up. The worst was when t guys yelled mine at the same time. The sound cancelled it out and you didn't hear the other guy. So I'd say a couple different things - mine, I go, I got it - just to make sure I didn't overlap with someone else calling for it.
August 13th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
I was a chatterbox when playing ball from PeeWee league up to JV years ago, and also an admitted ball hog. Also, I trusted my fielding abilities more than I trusted my teammates'. So on nearly any infield popup I'd typically start yelling minemineIgotitmineminemine and my teammates all got out of my way!
August 12th, 2022 at 9:17 AM ^
I've heard "I go" on popups occasionally playing ball in Michigan, moreso over the last 10 years or so.
But yeah, "have a catch" just isn't it and always bothered me when I heard it in movies. Tell me you suck at baseball without telling me you suck at baseball.
August 12th, 2022 at 9:52 AM ^
played bar league softball in late '90s early 2000s.... we had a kid move 'up north' from the Detroit Metro area..... he would yell 'I go' when calling a fly ball. that was the only time i've ever heard that on a ball field. he was very odd in many ways, that being one.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:15 AM ^
i have heard 'I go!' on the football field being used by DB's when locking into man coverage and pointing out the receiver or TE that they are basically claiming.
August 12th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
As I responded elsewhere, I wonder if the "I go" is from the military. That's how I learned to advance as a squad, saying "I go" when it was my turn or "you go" if it was the other guy's turn.
August 12th, 2022 at 10:17 AM ^
Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. had a catch the other day, using that wording, and I don't think either of them sucked at baseball.
Again, it's regional difference in usage, not "right" and "wrong."
That "have a catch" is in movies suggests that movies are often written by people who grew up around that usage, i.e., New York and maybe the Northeast generally.
August 12th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
fa·ce·tious
/fəˈsēSHəs/
adjective
-
treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant.
August 12th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Ah, subtle humor, and now subtler.
My face(tious) is red.
August 12th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
We always said “I got it!” on fly balls, except for one season when our control-freak coach ordered us (yes, literally ordered us) to say “Mine!” Don’t ask me how that was supposed to make us better baseball players.
August 12th, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^
Yo la tengo!
August 12th, 2022 at 4:29 PM ^
Here it comes.