Abbouncing a new word

There was a funny mistake in a photo caption that came across the Associated Press wire last night after the miserable Phillies game was suspended:

The scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia abbounces the suspension of Game 5 of the baseball World Series.

Abbounce is not a word (I checked), but I really like the way it sounds. So I tried to think up some things it could mean. Here’s what I came up with. Vote for your favorite below and add your own ideas in the comments.

  1. Treat the ab- as the Latin prefix, which means “off, away, from,” so it could mean “bounce away” or “bounce off.” I lost my ball when I was playing with it near the cliff and it abbounced.
  2. The obsolete and original meaning of bounce, according to the OED, was “to beat, thump, trounce, knock.” Combine that with the Latin prefix, and you have a word that means to beat or knock away. The soldiers charged up the hill, but the position was too strong and the enemy abbounced them.
  3. My friend Nina said it reminded her of comeuppance. So, combining that with the old meaning, maybe it’s comeuppance that’s so sudden or shocking that it knocks you back. He not only got what he deserved, he got abbounced.
  4. Maybe it’s similar to afire. He set the ball abbounce, and the dog happily chased it down the road.
  5. Last thing I can think of is maybe it’s a snooty French food, pronounced ab-oonce. Duck with snails or something.

Posted on October 28, 2008 12:19 pm, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.

  1. Abbouncing we will go, Abbouncing we will go,
    Hi Ho the derio, Abbouncing we will go!

  2. I love this post! BTW, the whole situation with the World Series is making me quite cranky.

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