I’d like to start by saying a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to check this silly little venture out. Whether you read a few sentences and got bored or pushed through to the very end, it means a lot. The comments were great too.
Excitingly, after roughly 5 years off the tools, I’ve been writing songs again. I even bought a cheap audio interface and a condenser mic, so I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious. I’ll hopefully post some stuff here before the year is out, thereby officially expanding this Wide World of Words beyond Random Word of the Week.
Sorry that this one’s a little late. I was in Gloucester watching my wife get bitten by a horse. Full disclosure, the link is just a video recap of our stay at an Unyoked cabin. Carley did get bitten by a horse though, although it only caught a bit of her puffer jacket. She’s fine.
Between last week’s post and now, ‘activity’ actually popped up in conversation quite a bit. I even found myself using it to describe things that could potentially be enjoyable. It made me consider whether I was too harsh in my assessment.
Will I apologise? No. Will I change my approach to this week’s word? Also no.
On that note, onto this week’s word…
credit
/ˈkrɛdɪt/
the ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future.
an entry recording a sum received, listed on the right-hand side or column of an account.
· a payment received
public acknowledgement or praise, given or received when a person's responsibility for an action or idea becomes apparent.
· a source of pride
My thoughts
Send me the most financially responsible DINKs from suburbs across the world. The most avid texters of the early-00s. All of the slightly above average students over the past century. Every gaffer, best boy and unit production manager that ever lived. Even combined, they would never come close to the amount of credit that one group has amassed in its time…
…the teammates of footy players giving a post-game interview. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a 54 second clip that explains everything.
“Full credit to the boys” has become so engrained in the rugby league lexicon that it’s gone from amusing to kind of concerning. I don’t know when it started, or who said it first. I googled it and got nothing. My guess for when? About a decade ago. As for who? No idea…let’s go with Greg Bird.
I get the feeling it was initially quite impactful. A short, sharp way for a player to express their selflessness and highlight that winning over 80 minutes is a team effort. Pretty eloquent as far as sports interviews go. I can picture Phil Gould closing his eyes and nodding approvingly when he heard it for the first time.
But as time has passed, it’s been used more and more frequently, by more and more players. And the thing is, no one even takes a second before dropping it into their response. It’s used with borderline literal thoughtlessness. What started as a compelling testament to 17 players all pulling on the rope as one, has now became synonymous with saying absolutely fuck all.
Now, I’m not expecting someone to go into a deep analysis of the X’s and O’s when they may as well have just spent 80 minutes being hit by a hatchback over and over again. But surely it’s frustrating for producers when they have this to work with every night:
INTERVIEWER: You were all tied up with just five minutes to go, and instead of trying to force the ball out wide, you put the trust in your forwards to get you downfield. It turned out to be a pivotal choice that led to you taking the lead. Was that always the plan or did you shift your strategy knowing their pack would be tiring with the short turn around from last week?
PLAYER: full credit to the boys
I think interviewers should just start saying whatever they want.
INTERVIEWER: Little Frodo man little guy with Frodo hair carrot eating he’s eating a carrot on a rooftop seminar Sunday elegant Samwise parchment man little paper man made of paper?
PLAYER: nah obviously full credit to the boys
‘Obviously’ is a whole other can of worms. I was about to get into it, but I won’t—unless, of course, it turns up as a Random Word of the Week.
Anyway, what’s your credit score? How about your CVV? Sound off in the comments!
Etymology tidbits
First used sometime in the 1540s, derived from French crédit (belief, faith), Italian credito (belief, trust) and Latin creditum (a loan, thing entrusted to another). Turns out calcio storico fiorentino was first played in the 16th century. Tutto il merito va ai ragazzi.
Synonyms I like
kudos: I feel like, by and large, this is used condescendingly. It looks and sounds great though.
merit: Reminds me of awards in primary school. Fond memories. My Year 5 teacher yelled a lot and I think he’d probably get in trouble for it nowadays. He’d get really angry and his face would get red. And we were 10. I’m pretty sure he yelled at me once because I’d forgotten my jumper? But you look back at those experiences and realise they make you the person you are today. I wouldn’t have this Substack without him.
Final verdict
WAYWARD