Chrysti The Wordsmith: Knocked for a Loop

I'm Christie the wordsmith greetings of herbivores. We American English speakers have thousands of colorful expressions at our disposal. A listener Carrie recently brought an exemplary one to my attention. Knock for a loop meaning to surprise discombobulate or stun as in getting fired without notice knocked me for a loop. We sometimes get thrown for a loop too which means the same thing. So how do we get knocked or thrown for a loop. Well by a powerful force that's how most sources have the phrase deriving from early 20th century American comic strips where a character is pushed or bit so hard that he somersaults. So in cartoon land he's literally knocked for a loop in three dimensional land of course bodies rarely somersault when struck. But we've retained the expression as a dynamic metaphor of the way we respond to the blow of shocking news. If you locate today's phrase in the Dictionary of American Slang published in 1960 you'll also be treated to several forgotten synonyms of the expression knocked for a

loop. It seems our slang slinging predecessors used such lively phrases as knocked for a row of ash cans not for a row of Chinese pagodas of tall red totem poles and for a row of Academy Awards or as the Dictionary of American Slang comments we can be quote knocked for a row of anything that is well known and usually upright. I'm Christie the wordsmith Christie the wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.