The proverbial "GOAT"

In my childhood there are instances, when my teachers called me a goat (ছাগল ) following my silly escapades. I always thought they meant the herbivores ones off course :( . Little did I knew then, it might have been applaud (pun intended), may be they foresaw the future in which GOAT gets a career promotion in its workplace i.e. the word dictionary.

Capra hircus or GOAT is not a mere word describing the probably first domesticated animal anymore it has became something else, someone else - Greatest Of All Time.

The sporty tidbits

Now-a-days G.O.A.T. is common in sports to refer players, widely considered the most talented (believed to be the best at a certain skill). Suddenly, the domesticated animal has won over its master to be the best of human kind in some aspects :) . Long live revolution!!!

“Catcher [Charles] Schmidt, who had been the ‘goat’ of the first game [of the World Series], redeemed himself at this time.” - Paul Dickson

Theories on its origin

Most common notion is, when LL Cool J (the rapper) released his 8th studio album G.O.A.T. (Sep 12th, 2000), its commercial success, introduced GOAT acronym to the world. “The G.O.A.T.” track on this album, LL Cool J (a k a James Todd Smith) says, “I’m the G.O.A.T.” and “the greatest of all time.” Actually it may be incorrect. The earliest example found is from September 1992, when Lonnie Ali, Muhammad Ali’s wife, incorporated Greatest of All Time, Inc. (G.O.A.T. Inc.) to consolidate and license her husband’s intellectual properties for commercial purposes.

“A scapegoat is innocent, whereas the goat is not; he has blundered , usually at a crucial moment, And the standard etymology of ‘goat’ as a shortening of ‘scapegoat’ is therefore almost certainly in error. ” – Gerald L. Cohen

· 1st Feb ’04 - A book Goat: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali was released, referring to boxer Muhammad Ali as the "greatest of all time."

· A popular theory is LL Cool J was inspired by Md. Ali to write ‘Mama Said Knock You Out, and the term G.O.A.T. was been coined. (LL Cool J told so to Rolling Stone)

From rags to riches

Since early 1900 s “goat” has been used in American sports as a derisive term for a player responsible for a team’s loss. Now, almost 100 years in future it started denoting a player who is mostly responsible for a team’s win. What a turnaround.

In The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (3rd ed.), by Paul Dickson:“Catcher [Charles] Schmidt, who had been the ‘goat’ of the first game [of the World Series], redeemed himself at this time.” (From the Oct. 10, 1909, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.) Dickson felt it as a clipped form of “scapegoat” that refers “to a player whose error is being blamed for a team’s defeat.” However, Gerald L. Cohen, challenged this theory in the Dec. 1, 1985, issue - “A scapegoat is innocent, whereas the goat is not; he has blundered, usually at a crucial moment, And the standard etymology of ‘goat’ as a shortening of ‘scapegoat’ is therefore almost certainly in error.”

Evolution of GOAT

In dictionaries

Capra hircus (scientific name) --> BUCCA (male), GAT (female) {old english} --> BUCK (male), GOAT (female) {early middle english}--> She-goat, He-goat{14th century} -->Nanny-goat (female){18th century}--> Billy-goat (male){19th century}.

In figurative senses

Zodiacal sign Capricorn (sometime before 1387) --> A licentious man (before 1674) --> A fool (1916).

Got your goat

The expression means to anger or upset someone, throwing them off their game. This Goat is not like the earlier discussed one.

One theory of origin involves horses – at a time when goats were used as companions to calm high-strung racehorses, if you get someone’s goat, the horse becomes unsettled and ran badly,” (didn’t find any real evidence to this)

The second theory refers another closely related animal, the cow – (old belief) keeping a goat in the barn had a calming effect on the cows, who would then produce more milk. Thus an enemy “get’s one’s goat” to upset the cows and cause them to be less productive. All hail goat the king of the calm, I guess..