Join the masses who listen to A Way With Words, the call-in radio show and podcast about words and language.
Catchword for “alleycat”
Catchword: alleycat
Filed Under: , ,
Part of Speech: n.
Quotation: The Staten Island Invasion was a type of race known as an “alleycat,” a high-speed scavenger hunt that has become popular among messengers and bike enthusiasts around the country. Alleycats are like marathons for the anti-marathon set, for those who prefer showing off their tattoos instead of their spandex.
Article or Document Title:
“A Bike Race With a Mission, Plus Cigarettes” (URL)
Author:
Manny Fernandez
Article, Document, Publication, Web Site:
New York Times
Date of Publication:
Aug. 20, 2007
This catchword has yet to be researched.
Posted 20 Aug 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend
Comments:
About time this word has been incorporated into the lexicon. They’ve been around for over twenty years. Alleycats have been recently been popularized with cycle couriers since at least the early to mid-90s. They gained in popularity with non-messengers due to the participation of the international community of bike messengers, especially around 2000, when the Cycle Messenger World Championships was held in Philadelphia. A five-day warm-up event called Metropoloco was held in NYC to “hype up” the main race of that summer in the week prior to CMWC 2000, which consisted of racing, drinking, carousing and other side events including the bunny-hop, sprints, and skids, (track bike required, at least for a long skid worth recording). Lately, larger alleycat post-race games included footdown and bike polo.
by Daniel N Jarquio 21 Aug 07, 1239 GMT

Leave a comment, which must be approved by the moderator before it will appear. Courtesy matters!

Keep in mind that we're interested in terms that are not well-covered in mainstream dictionaries, or not covered at all. A mass of unexamined Google hits counts for nothing, but an early use of the term you've found in a book or periodical is very useful. A term does not have to be new to be recorded here, it merely needs to be worthy of more attention.
Name (mandatory):

Email (mandatory):

Location (optional):

Your Web Site (optional):

Remember my personal information

Notify me, by email, of follow-up comments.

Recent Catchwords
springboard injunction n. (8/28)
turabosis n. (8/28)
Truman Show delusion n. (8/28)
relokill n. (8/27)
toothpick rule n. (8/27)
age-doping n. (8/27)
narcisurfing n. (8/27)
chemical rapping n. (8/27)
LPU n. (8/27)
peanut buttering n. (8/26)
whipsawing n. (8/26)
momtourage n. (8/26)
thin file n. (8/26)
two minute man n. (8/26)
family forest n. (8/26)
squircle v. (8/25)
pocket litter n. (8/24)
cuckoo smurfing n. (8/23)
kill screen n. (8/22)
yac n. (8/22)
 More catchwords...
Lexicographer's Rules
Wilf? Yuffer? Get real! (8/27)
Lexicographer Laurence Urdang Dies at 81 (8/26)
A thesaurus can be harmful (8/6)
Can bad language punditry be stopped? Can false attributions for classic quotes be fixed? (7/27)
There’s one in every country (7/23)
Scottish Language Dictionaries fundraiser (7/12)
SouthWest Writers (7/10)
Disfluencies: What do they mean by “I mean”? (7/9)
A hearty endorsement of shout quotes: scare quotes used for emphasis (5/14)
How to buy a dictionary (4/29)
 More blog entries...
Find A Word  »
 A   B   C   D   E 
 F   G   H   I   J 
 K   L   M   N   O 
 P   Q   R   S   T 
 U   V   W   X   Y 
 Z   0-9 
Search
Search Site

Google Site Search
Recent searches: cheese cutter… trick…
New Comments
Kenny S commented on anchor baby (8/28)
Kortney commented on defac (8/26)
Melanie Parrish commented on Mortarville (8/26)
Melanie Parrish commented on Mortarville (8/25)
Michael Orabona commented on robotripping (8/25)
MarthaK commented on haji (8/25)
Charles Miller commented on robotripping (8/24)
Andrew commented on robotripping (8/24)
Bruce Robinson commented on apatheism (8/22)
Joe O'Brien commented on alligator arms (8/21)
Grant Barrett commented on gleek (8/21)
Andy commented on gleek (8/21)
Ali van Wyk commented on bakkie (8/19)
Charles Miller commented on robotripping (8/18)
Kathe Chandler commented on mouth-breather (8/18)
Subscribe to the RSS feed. • Subscribe to the mailing list. • Browse the archive. • Add to Technorati Favorites. • © 1999-2008 by Grant Barrett, Double-Tongued Dictionary, New York City.