It Ain't Over...

[+ Gar1eth]

Ok a bit of a rabbit hole here. While I'm not sports guy at all-as anyone looking at my physique could tell, for some reason I started thinking about Yogi Berra the other day-wondering where the nickname 'Yogi' came from. I finally looked it up today. It came from a teammate thinking he looked serious  like a Yogi in in between up at bats-or something similar. 
 

But the Wikipedia article went on to talk about his history of funny sayings and  malapropisms. One that it said was often attributed to him was, "It Ain't Over Until the Fat Lady Sings."  But Wikipedia "avers"  (I've been doing a lot the NYT Mini Crossword Puzzles lately, and they are quite fond of that word) that the saying originated from a  University Sports Information Director in 1976. 
 

I would have thought the saying was much older than 1976. What do y'all think?

 

@mike carey is it a well-known expression down under? 

[Luv2play]

3 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

Ok a bit of a rabbit hole here. While I'm not sports guy at all-as anyone looking at my physique could tell, for some reason I started thinking about Yogi Berra the other day-wondering where the nickname 'Yogi' came from. I finally looked it up today. It came from a teammate thinking he looked serious  like a Yogi in in between up at bats-or something similar. 
 

But the Wikipedia article went on to talk about his history of funny sayings and  malapropisms. One that it said was often attributed to him was, "It Ain't Over Until the Fat Lady Sings."  But Wikipedia "avers"  (I've been doing a lot the NYT Mini Crossword Puzzles lately, and they are quite fond of that word) that the saying originated from a  University Sports Information Director in 1976. 
 

I would have thought the saying was much older than 1976. What do y'all think?

 

@mike carey is it a well-known expression down under? 

It’s older than the 1970’s and was commonly used in Canada when I was growing up in the 60’s. 
I thought it had to do with Kate Smith, the American singer who sang at public events sometimes. She was very stout, as my mother would say, and usually wore black to camouflage her figure as much as possible. 
 

She was a guest on the Ed Sullivan show from time to time as well. 

[+ Gar1eth]

1 minute ago, Luv2play said:

It’s older than the 1970’s and was commonly used in Canada when I was growing up in the 60’s. 
I thought it had to do with Kate Smith, the American singer who sang at public events sometimes. She was very stout, as my mother would say, and usually wore black to camouflage her figure as much as possible. 
 

She was a guest on the Ed Sullivan show from time to time as well. 

I was told it referred to the well-proportioned physiques of female opera singers. 

[Luv2play]

I’ve heard about the opera singers as well. 

[+ Gar1eth]

1 hour ago, Gar1eth said:

I was told it referred to the well-proportioned physiques of female opera singers. 

 

1 hour ago, Luv2play said:

It’s older than the 1970’s and was commonly used in Canada when I was growing up in the 60’s. 
I thought it had to do with Kate Smith, the American singer who sang at public events sometimes. She was very stout, as my mother would say, and usually wore black to camouflage her figure as much as possible. 
 

She was a guest on the Ed Sullivan show from time to time as well. 

 

28 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

I’ve heard about the opera singers as well. 

Of course Kate Smith had the same type of physique. I could picture her belting out an aria. 

[+ sync]

This from Wikipedia is the connotation that I've found most common:

The phrase “it’s not over till the fat lady sings” is a colloquialism that means that something is not finished or complete until the very end. It is often used in sports, politics, and other competitive situations to express the idea that there is still a chance for an upset or comeback.

[mike carey]

9 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

@mike carey is it a well-known expression down under? 

Yes, but I don't recall when I first heard it.

[+ poolboy48220]

I saw a button at a science fiction convention that said "Klingon Opera: It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Dies". 

[+ Charlie]

I believe the usual quote attributed to Yogi Berra is, "It ain't over till it's over."

[dutchal]

13 hours ago, sync said:

This from Wikipedia is the connotation that I've found most common:

The phrase “it’s not over till the fat lady sings” is a colloquialism that means that something is not finished or complete until the very end. It is often used in sports, politics, and other competitive situations to express the idea that there is still a chance for an upset or comeback.

Wikipedia also says that the first documented use of the phrase was by the Texas Tech SID in 1976, and:

"The phrase is generally understood to be a reference to opera sopranos, who were typically heavyset.^[2] The imagery of Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and its last part, Götterdämmerung, is typically used in depictions accompanying uses of the phrase. The "fat lady" is thus the valkyrie Brünnhilde, who was traditionally presented as a very buxom lady. Her farewell scene lasts almost twenty minutes and leads directly to the finale of the whole Ring Cycle.^[3] As Götterdämmerung is about the end of the world (or at least the world of the Norse gods), in a very significant way "it is [all] over when the fat lady sings.""

[BSR]

4 hours ago, Charlie said:

I believe the usual quote attributed to Yogi Berra is, "It ain't over till it's over."

Yes, that’s the correct Yogi-ism.  Berra was referring to a pennant race, but it can apply to any baseball game (8/5/2001 Seattle blew a 12-0 lead, Cleveland came back to win 15-14) or series (2004 ALCS, Boston came back from 0-3 games down to beat the Yankees 4-3).

My favorite Yogi-ism:  “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”

[MikeBiDude]

3 hours ago, BSR said:

Yes, that’s the correct Yogi-ism.  Berra was referring to a pennant race, but it can apply to any baseball game (8/5/2001 Seattle blew a 12-0 lead, Cleveland came back to win 15-14) or series (2004 ALCS, Boston came back from 0-3 games down to beat the Yankees 4-3).

My favorite Yogi-ism:  “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”

At the risk of causing thread drift, my favorite Yogi-ism:

You better cut the pizza in four pieces, because I'm not hungry enough to eat six

[+ azdr0710]

thread drift is to be celebrated......

   "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

   "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."  

   "If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em."

   "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."