Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Catch as catch can

 When catch as catch can crossed my mind the other day, I stopped and pondered. I knew the definition of this phrase—hit or miss, or (as Merriam-Webster says) "using any available means or method"—but had no idea of the origin. 

And what a strange phrase, right?

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M-W goes on to say that the first use of this phrase in the sense of "hit-or-miss" was 1833. Okay, but where did it even come from??

After some looking around online, I found this explanation on the site Writing Explained:

...This phrase comes from an old style of wrestling that allowed participants to use many moves not usually permitted in wrestling. For example, catch as catch can wrestlers may hold each other below the waist or even trip each other. Therefore, catch as catch can wrestlers take advantage of any opportunity afforded to them, including opportunities not usually use by other wrestlers. Likewise, when something is described as catch as catch can, it is done in a way that allows any advantage possible to be used.  

Writing Explained then pointed to a reference I have on my (physical, vs virtual) blookshelf: The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. This dictionary defines the phase as "by whatever means or in any way possible," and dates it from the late 1300s... which is pretty darn early.

I was curious as to the wrestling connection, and found a site called Old School Grappling which on its The History of Catch Wrestling page includes the following: 

Catch-as-Catch-Can (or catch wrestling) although its true origins have been lost in history, is deeply rooted in Lancashire England and is considered the ancestor of modern professional wrestling and mixed martial arts competitions. In old Lancashire English catch-as-catch-can is translated to “catch me if you can.”

I have to say that when I'm "wrestling" with an issue and "grappling" for a solution, I can appreciate the mental hit-or-miss aspects of making a catch as catch can decision.

Sometimes deciding which way to turn is a catch as catch can conundrum.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Around the track in Leadville, 1880

--> All is quiet on the hometown streets today (Sunday), with most folks (I’m assuming) hunkered down in front of their big screens, watching the Superbowl. Well, there sure wasn’t any football in Leadville during the Silver Rush, so what kind of spectator sports did folks enjoy?

I turned to my copy of Eugene Floyd Irey’s dissertation, A Social History of Leadville, Colorado, During the Boom Days, 1877–1881, for some insight. There was horseracing, apparently, for in the dissertation, he quotes the Leadville Democrat (July 27, 1880)  “… on the race course sporting is rife …”). Yes, I’ll bet it was.

Irey has a section talking about sports, in which he says the most popular varieties were closely allied with contests that offered the opportunity for gambling. Thus, “sporting activity tended rather heavily toward such spectator sports as wrestling, boxing, billiards, shuffle board, walking and horse racing.”

Horse racing seems to have been a big favorite. In 1879, Leadville had constructed a race trace on the edge of town. By the beginning of 1880, the Leadville Trotting and Running Club was holding regular meets, with typical purses for a three-day meet running as high as $6,000.

Now, according to the website MeasuringWorth.com, $6,000 in 1880 equates to about $136,000 today. Wowee!! I can see why there would be so much interest in racing...

 ... One wonders how much money is changing hands this evening, at the conclusion of the Superbowl ...