Booby prize
A booby prize is a joke prize usually given in recognition of a terrible performance or last-place finish. A person who finishes last, for example, may get a booby prize such as a worthless coin. Booby prizes are sometimes humorously and jokingly coveted as an object of pride.
Booby prizes, however, may not be given just to those who just have a terrible performance. At times, the term "booby prize" is used for a consolation prize given to all non-placing participants of a competition.
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[edit] Origin
The word "boob" stems from the Spanish bobo meaning stupid, which in turn came from the Latin balbus meaning stammering; the word booby to mean dunce appeared in 1599.
Booby prize literally means "idiot's prize". The OED dates this usage to 1893. Booby trap and "booby hatch" are related terms.[1]
[edit] Examples
- An award is given annually for Mr. Irrelevant, the professional American football player each year who is selected last in the NFL draft.
- A Red Lantern is given to the cyclist who finishes last in the Tour de France and the last musher in the Iditarod.
- A wooden spoon is a common booby prize which is awarded in such sports as Rugby Union, Rowing and in particular to the bottom team on the ladder in Australian Football League (AFL).
- The anthropomorphic Dusty Bin was given as a booby prize in the TV game show 3-2-1.
- A number of game shows have used their own terminology to describe booby prizes, won by contestants who had made either a poor decision or an unlucky choice. On Let's Make a Deal, booby prizes are called "zonks," while the Chuck Barris-produced The New Treasure Hunt called these items "klunks."
- Two games on The Price Is Right offer a booby prize-of-sorts for a losing contestant:
- A cash prize of less than $10 for revealing the three numbers in the piggy bank prize's blanks (before completing the price of either one of the two more desirable prizes).
- Traditionally, the cadet graduating West Point with the lowest academic record was known as the "goat" and was given a silver dollar by each of his classmates.[2]
- On the BBC Quiz show Blankety Blank losing contestants were famously presented with a Blankety Blank Cheque Book and Pen
- On the New Zealand game show It's in the Bag, three of the game bags have booby prizes in them, ranging from rubber ducks to boxes of washing powder.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Straightdope.com
- ^ Jason Zasky. "The goats of West Point". History. Failure Magazine LLC. http://failuremag.com/index.php/site/print/the_goats_of_west_point/. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
