Politics & Investing

Re: What is the etymology of the expression “to be in the tank for”?

danielTX — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:14:59 GMT

Good explanation Mark.

Re: What is the etymology of the expression “to be in the tank for”?

Mark49 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:13:54 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-safire-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

"The primary meaning is evident from the context: to be in the tank is to be “lovingly enthralled; foolishly enraptured; passionately bedazzled.” A more sinister meaning, however, hovers in the shadows: “self-interestedly involved; surreptitiously supportive” and in extreme cases “corruptly influenced".”

"from a 1930 Los Angeles Times: “The Illinois Boxing Commission today probed the alleged confession of James Gary . . . in which Gary was said to have stated that he did a nose dive . . . and reached the conclusion that Gary had been knocked cold and that no effort had been made to put Gary in the tank.”

"A tank was the 19th-century term for what we now call a swimming pool; the metaphor evoked a picture of diving to the ring’s canvas-covered floor — as if into a pool — to feign loss of consciousness. “By extension,” Dickson reports, “when a fighter or anything else (including a stock) takes a nose dive he or she has tanked.”

"While we’re in this examination of the many meanings of tank, we come across its use as an attributive noun in fashion’s tank top. That sleeveless T-shirt is so named because it was originally worn by men and women long ago for swimming in the pool, or tank"

Safire nails the meaning in that the MSM is "lovingly enthralled", "foolishly enraptured, and "passionately bedazzled" with Obama. It's classic liberalism: symbolism over substance. Where are the insightful, hard hitting, difficult questions from our press? Instead we get

Mark

Re: What is the etymology of the expression “to be in the tank for”?

Mr. Purrington — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:20:04 GMT

go in the tank, Boxing Slang. to go through the motions of a match but deliberately lose because of an illicit prearrangement or fix; throw a fight ~www.dictionary.com

thank you

Mr. Purrington

In The Tank: One Interpretation

JustPlainBill — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:19:05 GMT

What is the etymology of the expression “to be in the tank for”?

danielTX — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:12:30 GMT

As in “the NYT is in the tank for Obama” etc. This blog makes some interesting speculations but doesn't come to any conclusions.

"I’m especially curious because it seems like there are a huge number of possibilities, though of varying plausibility. “In the [fish] tank” as in “like a domesticated pet”? “In the [Abrams] tank” as in “going to battle for”? “In the [gas] tank” as in “acting as fuel for”? “In the [drunk] tank” as in “besotted with”? “In the [septic] tank” as in “prepared to get dirty on behalf of”? Or something else I haven’t thought of? Presumably I could just ping some veteran journo acquaintance and get a definitive answer, but in a way I’m as curious about how people have been interpreting it—or whether it’s a dead metaphor with no concrete image associated...

How do people here interpret the expression?