Talk:sandbag
unclear definition[edit]
What is verb meaning four supposed to mean? ("To pretend to drink early on so that as the night draws on one can drink everyone 'under the table'.")
50.203.181.99 05:45, 24 May 2018 (UTC)
- I have moved that definition to a subsense of what I believe is the common modern figurative sense. This involves the idea of party A misleading Party B so that Party B lets down their guard, to the eventual advantage of Party A. HTH DCDuring (talk) 00:30, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
- In the definition in question "Pretending to drink" is the way Party A (pretender) fools Party B ("everyone") into drinking heavily, leaving Party A in a position, relative sobreity, of advantage (eg, for practical jokes, competitive activities like gambling, etc.) DCDuring (talk) 00:36, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
Additional senses[edit]
The verb seems to have some additional figurative meanings which aren't covered yet. Jberkel 20:09, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
- Could you be more vague? DCDuring (talk) 20:20, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
- For example the following citations:
In the past month, President Trump has sideswiped certification of the Iran nuclear deal, sandbagged his own secretary of state’s diplomatic efforts with North Korea, and even provoked the ever-careful Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Bob Corker, to uncork his deepest fears in a series of bombshell interviews.
The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has allowed himself to be sandbagged by his Tory partners in his otherwise laudable attempt to introduce a fairer electoral system, probably losing a once-in-a-generation opportunity for electoral reform.
Jberkel 20:42, 2 October 2023 (UTC)Responding to Axios business editor Dan Primack's assertion that she "sandbagged" Yaccarino by springing the former executive's appearance on her
- I think the 3rd would support a definition like "to conceal or mislead someone to gain an advantage" which would be a generalization of existing def. 3. I don't know the details about what actually happened in 1 or 2, but they could be instances of the above. In the 1st the result is that the Secretary of State was undermined and embarrassed because he assumed (was [mis]led to believe) that Trump would support his N. Korea diplomacy. I don't know any facts about 2. I don't think that any dictionary would get into too many details about the hows and whys of sandbagging. Specifically, our subsenses seem silly, but might be the basis for useful usage examples. DCDuring (talk) 23:24, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
- These instances seem to me to be closer in meaning to blindside, to catch off-guard, not really to "deceive" (although that might be a goal as well). Faked "weakness" doesn't seem to play a role in any of the examples, so maybe the original poker analogy has been lost. Jberkel 08:05, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- Citations rule. They trump opinion whenever available. DCDuring (talk) 13:58, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- Well, I've rebuilt the senses around citations now, and checked other dictionaries, FWIW. Jberkel 14:57, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- A lot of work, I know, but it's what we need to do. DCDuring (talk) 15:30, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- Well, I've rebuilt the senses around citations now, and checked other dictionaries, FWIW. Jberkel 14:57, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- Citations rule. They trump opinion whenever available. DCDuring (talk) 13:58, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- These instances seem to me to be closer in meaning to blindside, to catch off-guard, not really to "deceive" (although that might be a goal as well). Faked "weakness" doesn't seem to play a role in any of the examples, so maybe the original poker analogy has been lost. Jberkel 08:05, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
- I think the 3rd would support a definition like "to conceal or mislead someone to gain an advantage" which would be a generalization of existing def. 3. I don't know the details about what actually happened in 1 or 2, but they could be instances of the above. In the 1st the result is that the Secretary of State was undermined and embarrassed because he assumed (was [mis]led to believe) that Trump would support his N. Korea diplomacy. I don't know any facts about 2. I don't think that any dictionary would get into too many details about the hows and whys of sandbagging. Specifically, our subsenses seem silly, but might be the basis for useful usage examples. DCDuring (talk) 23:24, 2 October 2023 (UTC)