No butts
Forget all the furore about Zinedine Zidane's public shame, and the inglorious end to a glorious career. What is really getting some listeners irritated is the phrase "head butt". Is it tautological? And does the butt refer to the part of the victim's body assaulted, or the part of the part of the body used by the assailant? Should it be "chest butted", for instance? Or, slightly more long-winded, "butted in the chest by ZZ's head"? After much discussion (that bemused some of the people who heard it) we have agreed that Zinedine Zidane butted Marco Materazzi in the chest. Clear?
Comments
There is little or no relationship between correct English grammar and that used on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World. With more space I could give you dozens of ex- amples. One standout is "a number of" when you mean "many" or "several". And on, and on, and on, and........
All in all, it's a good thing no-one got butted in the butt, or we may have been here forever.
I suspect that if we turn to Wikipedia we may find the answer....
'Head butting is a fighting technique that uses the cranium to strike an opponent's face to cause injury or a knockout.'
Therefore, technically speaking, Zidane did not head butt Materazzi at all. He struck the other player in the chest with his head.
Or, he drove his head into Materazzi's chest.
I hope this helps
Sorry to be a pedant BUT (henceforth to be abbreviated to STBAPB) shouldn't you say "After much discussion (*which* bemused some of the people who heard it)" etc etc?
I think this new blog is going to be fun - it can become the definitive resource for pedants and malcontents!
It's a head butt, since the butt was done with the head. If you kick someone in the head, you don't call it a head butt, do you?
If you use your elbow offensively, it's called "elbowing", no matter where the blow lands. A butt with the head is, therefore, a head butt.
Obviously.
I thought Zidane did bad with the head butt. I changed my mind after I found out that maybe Zidane was an object of a racist attack. Maybe it was his way of zero tolerance for racism.
head butt is a term used commonly in the Uk to describe an attack or actual bodily harm on an indvidual or the third party from and using the owner of the head concerned from the first party...nothing more nothing less.
Lets not get into legal torts on this one... lets remember the slogan of the World Cup 2006, not seen by me since the 1/4 finals, what was it?... oh yes... play fair...
According to MSN Encarta the definition of head-butt is to hit somebody with a deliberate hard blow with the forehead or the top of the head.
More importantly now - what is the definition of 'the beautiful game'?
I refer your readers to the minor hit record 'Head Butts' by John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett. I do this because it is of no practical use, has no inherent value and makes no positive contribution to this thread whatsoever. I await the publication of this comment with great interest.
"Butt" is to apply the head as an offensive weapon to a target. The target can be anything.
The goat butted the gate.
"Head Butt" sounds tautological to me.
Zidane butted the Italian is correct. At least according to the OED.
Though I have to say, I'm the last person who's going to go and explain that to the yobs in the East End.
In the game of soccer, there are supposed to be no ifs, ands, or butts. By openly inflicting a head butt, ZZ proved that deep down he was little more than a butthead. It cost him his reputation, his team the game and the championship, and worst of all he will forever be the butt of coutless jokes. As the French fans contemplate with envy the elated state of their Italian counterparts, they can muse "there butt for the grace of ZZ go we." Butt in considering their rise almost to the top and loss in the final round, could they truely say, "it is butter to have played and lost, then never to have played at all?" Don't butt on it.