Banty

Question

Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in the term "banty"? And "banty around"?
The quote below is from , but I heard Sanchez ask the question (and use the word) yesterday on one of the news channels. "Banty" it was. No 'd' in it at all.
"Sanchez: The numbers that you (Rumsfeld) banty (sic) around about how many troops we really have out there who are around out there that are Iraqi police, et cetera, et cetera." (The "sic" is the blogger's.)

Rumsfeld used the same pronunciation in answering Sanchez. Out of politeness? I don't know. "Banty" may be more widespread that I would have thought.
Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"?

Maria Conlon

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in the term "banty"? And "banty around"? The quote below is ... know. "Banty" may be more widespread that I would have thought. Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"?[/nq]
You have another thing coming, Tootsie.
"Banty" is used as an informal term for "bantam," as in "bantam rooster." Southern US, in my experience. Strangely, it's not in any dictionary indexed at onelook.com. But you can turn it up at Google, frequently in the phrase "banty rooster."
I think the usage you turned up is simply a misspelling of "bandy."

Liebs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in the term "banty"? And "banty around"? The quote below is ... may be more widespread that I would have thought. Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"? Maria Conlon[/nq]
M-W Online has this to offer:
bandy:
d : to use in a glib or offhand manner often used with about

Mike

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in ... thought. Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"?[/nq]
[nq:1]You have another thing coming, Tootsie. "Banty" is used as an informal term for "bantam," as in "bantam rooster." Southern ... Google, frequently in the phrase "banty rooster." I think the usage you turned up is simply a misspelling of "bandy."[/nq]
I am quite familiar with banty roosters and chickens, thank you, sir. -) (I would have spelled it "bannie," going by what I called them when I was young no 't' and no 'd'.)
But misspelling? No. I heard the word spoken, and it was banTy. I think it was yet another case of someone (or plural someones) using a wrong word, mainly because they had misheard it at some point and also didn't look it up.
And besides, what would roosters have to do with communicating troop numbers?
Trust me on this one. I listened to it several times.

Maria Conlon
Never wrong. (Well, there was that time..)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Maria Conlon wrote in message[/nq]
[nq:2]Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in ... thought. Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"?[/nq]
[nq:1]M-W Online has this to offer: bandy: d : to use in a glib or offhand manner often used with about [/nq]
"'Banty" it was. No 'd' in it at all." And also note that I mentioned Rumsfeld's pronunciation as possibly being out of politeness.

"Bandy" was what was meant, I'm sure. But that's not what was said. I heard it, more than once.
Another think/thing, yes?
Maria Conlon
And "danty" ain't "dandy."

Usenet · Answer

I can tell by the fact that you changed the subject line spelling that I apparently didn't make my point clear.
I know the word "bandy." The pronuciation as "banty" was what was curious.
(Actually, I thought that saying "banty" instead of "bandy" was the result of stupidity on the California Democrat's part, but that's a biased political judgment and it will only make more enemies for me.)

Clearly worried,
(not)
Maria Conlon

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1] I can tell by the fact that you changed the subject line spelling that I apparently didn't make my ... on the California Democrat's part, but that's a biased political judgment and it will only make more enemies for me.)[/nq]
Rather than label the intellect of a political candidate, I would rather think of it as the kind of error made by someone whose first language was not English, or perhaps who grew up in a bilingual community. However, I don't know the history of the Sanchez women.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Maria Conlon wrote in message M-W Online has this to ... [/nq]
[nq:1]"'Banty" it was. No 'd' in it at all." And also note that I mentioned Rumsfeld's pronunciation as possibly being out of politeness. "Bandy" was what was meant, I'm sure. But that's not what was said. I heard it, more than once.[/nq]
Sorry. I missed that sentence about the dearth of "d" on my first perusal of your post.
I would agree that it is simply a misunderstanding of the word "bandy." Google offers a few more misunderstandings. Perhaps Rumsfeld is now thinking he had it wrong all this time...
Mike

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in the term "banty"? And "banty around"? The quote below is ... know. "Banty" may be more widespread that I would have thought. Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"?[/nq]
Searching via Google turns up the following:
"banty about" -chicken -chickens -rooster -roosters -hen -hens -bandy

gets 199 hits.
"bandy about" -chicken -chickens -rooster -roosters -hen -hens -banty

gets 13,300 hits.
I took a look at Michael Quinion's World Wide Words site, but he had nothing on "banty," only a discussion of "bant" (a term having to do with dieting, which we have discussed in this newsgroup before). However, I was interested to see that Michael has a new book out:

From
http://www.worldwidewords.org/posh.htm
"One book, two titles. It is called Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds* in the USA and *Port Out, Starboard Home everywhere else."

It's a book on the subject of questionable etymologies, it would seem. "The real story of the origin and evolution of a word or phrase is often much stranger than the commonly accepted one."

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Maria Conlon wrote in message M-W Online has this to ... [/nq]
[nq:1]Yes "bandy." Not "banty" (and not usually followed by "around").[/nq]
Makes me think of badminton for some reason.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has California Democrat Lorretta Sanchez given us something new in the term "banty"? And "banty around"? The quote below is ... know. "Banty" may be more widespread that I would have thought. Have you heard it, um, "bantied" about? Or "around"?[/nq]
I would guess this is connected with the variability of the t/d boundary in English. In some parts of the US, t and d are so close (to my ear) that it doesn't surprise me that someone would misinterpret one for the other. By this I mean that the lady has heard "bandy" much more often than she has seen it in print, and has wrongly come to the conclusion that it's spelt with a t. She's not alone: there are a couple hundred "banty about"s on the Web.
btw, is it a new trend, to reply to posts without reading them?

Adrian

Banty

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