Very cool. This is a leading contender for "critical paradigm of the month."

OK, my response is a post in and of itself,

Me and my brother basically popularized using wrestling terminology to describe our entire lives amongst our group of friends. To the point now that many non-wrestling fan friends of his use the terms all the time having no idea where they came from. Other helpful terms in wrestling that can be applied to real life,

"shoot" and "work" - "shoot" refers to a series of actual events that "aren't part of the storyline." (e.g. Bruiser Brody "shot" on Lex Luger by not letting any of his moves hurt and thus Luger got the hell out of there and the match didn't end as planned). "Work" refers to the storyline sometimes (as in, "it's all part of the work") but also as a verb to describe people who are TRYING to convince you that something is "not part of the script" even though it really is (e.g., Dallas Page and Buff Bagwell tried to work the wrestlers backstage into thinking they hated each other in real life but it was all to strengthen their onscreen feud).

(as used in real life) - "That couple's argument might seem like a shoot but they were just working the hosts because they wanted a reason to leave early."

(as used in academia) - "They aren't shooting with the job interviews, it's all just a work to legitimize the hiring of the inside candidate."

***

"Mark out" or "pop" - read above term about "Mark." Describes a specific event in a match that gets a major reaction (e.g's "the crowd marked out for Steve Austin's return" or "the three tables fall got the crowd to pop big time")

(as used in real life) - "Steve showed up at my party unexpected. I popped!"

(as used in academia) - "I marked out for Rob Drew's paper on Starbucks mix CDs"

***

"Booker": person in charge of storylines (i.e. head writer)

(as used in real life) - "Pat is booking the road hockey tournament"

(as used in academia) - "Maryann Meyers is booking proseminar this year."

***

"On the fly booking" - meaning to not plan too far ahead of time in order to keep the audience on its toes (usually to fool the "smarts"). Eric Bischoff used it to put WCW on top, booking entire shows only ten minutes ahead of time (but it ulimately led to disorganized chaos that helped bring WCW down).

(as used in real life) - "Hey Pat, don't leave the house yet, the road hockey tournament has just been moved to Ranni St." "On the fly booking!!"

(as used in academia) - not assigning readings until the very end of each class in order to remain "topical" and/or "au courant" would be a case of "on the fly booking."

***

"Getting over" - means that you are getting the reaction that you want from the audience in spades (the Rock really wasn't getting over initially but then got over so huge, he became one of the biggest stars in the business)

(as used in real life) - Brent's karaoke routine really got over with the crowd

(as used in academia) - if my paper is the best received on the panel, then I "got over" the best with the audience

***

"Heat" - Can be used in two fashions, "babyface heat" (strong crowd reaction for a good guy) or "heel heat" (strong crowd reaction for a bad guy).

(as used in real life) - Mick's got real heel heat on him right now for not showing up to the party.

(as used in academia) - if someone writes a book that seems more self-serving than theoretically promising, then they could receive major heel heat from the academic community

***

"Angle" - An event or series of events that is usually a confrontation between two or more wrestlers that intensifies a feud.

(as used in real life) - if someone makes a change in their life that's radical and gets a reaction (e.g. "Bryce just got accepted by Georgia State and is going to Atlanta in two months" :-p) then someone may react by saying "what an angle!"

(as used in academia) - an intense confrontation at a panel might be seen to further a "feud" between two discourses and thus is a good "angle." E.g. "That Appadurai-Harvey debate was a great angle! I'm really interested in where the flows vs. structure storyline is going."

***

"Comedy spot" - a series of events put in a match more for a laugh than to be taken seriously. Can be used in a flattering sense to describe a wrestler's humorous personality ("Eugene is effective in comedy spots") or a not-so-flattering sense to describe how a wrestler's style has gotten so corny and/or repetitive as to be laughable ("Ric Flair is a legend whose schtick been reduced to comedy spots")

(as used in real life) - "I put a comedy spot into my karaoke performance that got over huge."

(as used in academia) - "Arguments about false consciousness were once taken seriously but now run the risk of being reduced to comedy spots about what dupes we all are."

***

"put someone over" - Used commonly to refer to losing to someone but more subtly used to describe the act of making the other performer look good. E.g., HHH lost the match but didn't sell most of his opponents moves so he didn't really put him over. Also can describe a series of events (e.g. Goldberg's winning streak was designed to put him over as a monster).

(as used in real life) - "Hopefully you'll be able to go out with Suzie. I really put you over in the conversation I had with her."

(as used in academia) - "I used these three professors for my letters of recommendation because they're the best at putting me over" or "if you want to get in that journal, you really need to put over the editors in your paper."

***

"Turn" - to go from babyface to heel or vice-versa

(as used in real life) - "He turned heel on his girlfriend by cheating on her."

(as used in academia) - "She turned heel at the NCA convention by putting over the ICA instead."

***

"Workrate" - describes how well someone can make a match flow. E.g. Hulk Hogan was a popular character but his workrate sucked (i.e. he didn't do much to make a match look good).

(as used in real life) - I'm sorry......I'm not willing to post sex talk on a website :-P

(as used in academia) - Probably used to describe people who have become the "go to" people for quotes in the media but haven't really contributed any actual ideas to the discipline. "So and so is really over with the media but their workrate is terrible."

***

"Swerve" - to book an angle/storyline one way when it appears to be going another e.g., the fans in 1998 thought the Survivor Series would set up the Rock as the top good guy but the company swerved them and turned him heel

(as used in real life) - "We thought he was going to other bar but he showed up here instead, what a swerve!"

(as used in academia) - "Everyone thought the inside candidate was going to get the job but they hired outside the department. What a swerve!"

***

"Screwjob" - A finish with a controversial ending, often upsetting and/or disappointing the fans.

(as used in real life) - "The party turned out to be a real screwjob; they said there'd be an open bar but there was hardly any booze and they kicked everyone out before one."

(as used in academia) - "The conference was a screwjob; half of the promised presentations never happened."

***

"selling" - Making someone else's moves look good, writhing in agony when you are "hit" with something. The better the sell, the better the move looks.

(as used in real life) - "He's not selling the breakup in public because he doesn't want her to know how hurt he is."

(as used in academia) - "The chair of the department sold the challenge to his theory as the ultimate indignity."

There you have it, wrestling's "carny lingo" and how it make YOU articulate life and academics in an entirely different way. (Other examples are welcome!)

BMN

Wow.

That's excellent, BMN.

A friend offers:

Mark = Larry
Smart = Moe
Smark = Curly

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