WORDPLAY | HUMOR
Knock Out
Not quite ready to throw in the towel
Let’s talk love first.
We met and fell in love.
He was fascinated by my tongue.
I’m a writer and linguist — so I’ve been known to impress some blokes with words and language skills.
Idioms. Expressions. Metaphors.
For a while, it was the best of both worlds.
He told his friends I was a knockout.
What??!! I mean, I’m an Eleven, maybe, but certainly no Ten.
Picture Big Bang Theory. Or How I Met Your Mother.
Or Stranger Things — yes, that Eleven.
Or Bo Derek’s second cousin once removed on her father’s side — the one who doesn’t shave her armpits or legs often enough.
I know I would fit right in with those groupings of intellectual babes.
I might even be a knockout in that ring.
But who am I to judge? This brings us a step closer to focusing on the multiple meanings of the word — knockout.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary and the School of Hard Knocks —
- a knockout is a term used in boxing or combative sports to describe the act of being rendered unconscious or knocked out by a physical blow when the fighter is unable to get up within a specified time limit.
- a knockout is also slang for someone considered extremely attractive or appealing.
- knocked out refers to becoming exhausted or overwhelmed by something. For example, “That night-time flu medicine really knocked
me out, and I was finally able to get some sleep.”
What fascinates me most about language is how it evolves or when it becomes colloquial slang.
Is a knockout a person who stands head-and-shoulders above all the rest in your eyes; do they make you weak in the knees?
Who or what knocks your socks off? I’d love to know.
Grace notes: At one time, I was highly offended by the term “intellectual babe.”
Now, it’s something I dream of in my deepest moments of REM sleep. I wonder what changed.
© Connie Song 2024. All Rights Reserved.
