Football Archaeology

Share this post

Hut! Hut! Hike!: Trickeration

www.footballarchaeology.com
Hut! Hut! Hike!

Hut! Hut! Hike!: Trickeration

Timothy P. Brown
Sep 9, 2022
1
Share this post

Hut! Hut! Hike!: Trickeration

www.footballarchaeology.com

— The Hut! Hut! Hike! series examines the origins of football terminology and how the game's evolution drove changes in its vocabulary. The full article (#14 in the series) is available to paid subscribers only. —


Among the odder words to enter the language of football is trickeration, and the walk it took to enter the game is equally unusual. Trickeration originated in the world of music with the release of Cab Calloway’s 1931 Trickeration, a song about the jazz and dance scene in Harlem at the time. Best as I can tell from the lyrics, trickeration referred to musical and dance tricks that produced joy or fun. That meaning was picked up in 1932 to describe the pitching of Guy Bush, a White Sox pitcher, but otherwise remained in the musical world for the next four decades.

Cab Calloway in the 1930s

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Football Archaeology to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
Previous
Next
© 2023 Timothy P. Brown
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing