I was one of your question-askers who previously asked about “Goat-rope” many years ago (1980-ish?). It’s nice to see the related “Goat Rodeo” explained. I guess it’s the circle of life.
Joyce Melton:
January 1st, 2015 at 10:56 pm
I lived in San Angelo, Texas back in the 70s for awhile and goat-roper was the ironic usage for the locals to indicate someone who didn’t get into town very often. It’s also the only place I’ve ever lived that had goat on the local fast food menus because they really do ranch the critters in the area.
Dave Neil:
January 27th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
re: Goat Dance
Of possible enlightenment, if correct, is that “tragedy” in the theatric sense and from there to the misfortune sense supposedly derives from Greek [i]trag oidea[/i] meaning goat dance and having to do with bachanalia.
All of these may well be true on independent trajectories, but I would like to point out that when I was a kid in the West, during the late 1960s there was a thing called “Li’l Britches Rodeo” – rodeo in which the participants were all kids. Kind of like little league baseball, age grouped etc.
For most of the roping and tying events, at least for girls and young kids, goats were used rather than cattle (because they were smaller and less dangerous). I never participated, but some in my schools did (not so much my friends and I never attended these, but they were covered in local papers, etc).
As we moved into high school age, I started hearing references to “goat ropers” and I thought it related to that. In any case those events were chaotic and amateurish and lots of moms and dads pushing for thier kids to win…
So another layer of nuance, even if it isn’t the direct source.
Ed Brown:
May 24th, 2018 at 6:35 pm
Having seen photos of grandparents, it was common for children to have goat pulled carts as they played “grown up” simulating the adults’ horses and carriages. Likewise, a “goat rodeo” would be a children’s rodeo, so a “goat rodeo” suggests children (or amateurs and incompetents) trying to play grown up on a difficult task and making a mess of it.
Leave a comment
Search us!
Search The Word Detective and our family of websites:
This is the easiest way to find a column on a particular word or phrase.
To search for a specific phrase, put it between quotation marks. (note: JavaScript must be turned on in your browser to view results.)
Ask a Question!
Puzzled by Posh?
Confounded by Cattycorner?
Baffled by Balderdash?
Flummoxed by Flabbergast?
Perplexed by Pandemonium?
Nonplussed by... Nonplussed?
Annoyed by Alliteration?
Charlie N:
November 26th, 2014 at 1:36 pm
I was one of your question-askers who previously asked about “Goat-rope” many years ago (1980-ish?). It’s nice to see the related “Goat Rodeo” explained. I guess it’s the circle of life.
Joyce Melton:
January 1st, 2015 at 10:56 pm
I lived in San Angelo, Texas back in the 70s for awhile and goat-roper was the ironic usage for the locals to indicate someone who didn’t get into town very often. It’s also the only place I’ve ever lived that had goat on the local fast food menus because they really do ranch the critters in the area.
Dave Neil:
January 27th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
re: Goat Dance
Of possible enlightenment, if correct, is that “tragedy” in the theatric sense and from there to the misfortune sense supposedly derives from Greek [i]trag oidea[/i] meaning goat dance and having to do with bachanalia.
Doug Gifford:
May 24th, 2018 at 2:04 pm
Use of “Goat Rodeo” to describe the current US/N.Korea talks: http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-44243878
Drew Kadel:
May 24th, 2018 at 6:06 pm
All of these may well be true on independent trajectories, but I would like to point out that when I was a kid in the West, during the late 1960s there was a thing called “Li’l Britches Rodeo” – rodeo in which the participants were all kids. Kind of like little league baseball, age grouped etc.
For most of the roping and tying events, at least for girls and young kids, goats were used rather than cattle (because they were smaller and less dangerous). I never participated, but some in my schools did (not so much my friends and I never attended these, but they were covered in local papers, etc).
As we moved into high school age, I started hearing references to “goat ropers” and I thought it related to that. In any case those events were chaotic and amateurish and lots of moms and dads pushing for thier kids to win…
So another layer of nuance, even if it isn’t the direct source.
Ed Brown:
May 24th, 2018 at 6:35 pm
Having seen photos of grandparents, it was common for children to have goat pulled carts as they played “grown up” simulating the adults’ horses and carriages. Likewise, a “goat rodeo” would be a children’s rodeo, so a “goat rodeo” suggests children (or amateurs and incompetents) trying to play grown up on a difficult task and making a mess of it.