One of English�s words that has been through a wild and crazy journey through time is game.  Game�s beginnings date back as early 12th Century or Old English times of grammar; �gamen, the predecessor of our word game, meant �fun.�  But now the sporting word game usually implies a contest, with a trophy, perhaps, and the winning of a score at the end� (310)1 The average dictionary contains approximately twenty definitions for game; however, even though the number of definitions is substantial, there is another meaning not found.  The meaning of game of this paper in the end comes extrapolated from slang and that hopes will be included among the other meaning in a Standard English Dictionary with convincing persuasion.

         The first written and recorded instance of game is referenced way back in the day of the first 1000 years A.D. from the Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition (O.E.D.); Germanic in origin, game traveled thousands of miles and crossed many language boundaries.  According to Wilfred Funk, in his book, Word Origins and Their Romantic Stories, twelfth century people tried to game (have fun) with sport; except that sport in the sense here is an abbreviation for the word disport, which means �to amuse oneself� or �to make a gay and sportive display.� As in the sentence, �Having game, she disported herself on the bench in her smart, new bathing suit.�

        The Oxford English Dictionary points out many meanings grown throughout the centuries. In the O.E.D under �game� and a section from a Charles Dickens classic from 1838, Oliver Twist, exclaimed, ��I can't bear it; it is such a jolly game..Oh, my eye, what a game!�� Dickens portrays the person in the preceding quote as having a humorous episode or a little bit of fun.  The sentence make me chuckle in that I want to say it with a superbly distinguished Old English accent.   The meaning that we typically associate with game found in the O.E.D read way too complex, but Webster�s Universal Collegiate Dictionary ©1997 stated game as �a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance and played according to a set of rules for the amusement of the players or spectators.�

        You can pull many instances out of a magician�s hat where this dictionary inference relates to everyday life.  Take a look at sports such as: football, baseball and basketball; more times than not, sports lovers refer to televised team verses team play as �the game.�  The typical beer guzzlin�, fartin�, couch potato of a man who cannot miss a single second of the �Big Game� yelling and hollering at his wife.  Why � for standing in front of the T.V. no less � �Move out of the way honey, your making miss the game!�  Webster�s Universal Collegiate Dictionary used game as suggestion that is heard in discussion in a business or professional setting: Debbie Florence, my friend from Century 21, is in the real estate game.  The O.E.D points out that people�s efforts to secure their best interests are often related back to game.  An old quote from the O.E.D. read, �The English Radicals did not see why they should play the Unionist game by voting for Mr. Russell's amendment.�

         Game�s idioms, from Webster�s Universal Collegiate Dictionary, defined it to be �making game of, to make fun of; ridicule.  Hardly do any people hear or read about gaming the President of the United States, but, perhaps when the behavior of satirizing a ruling king of another country back in the Middle Ages the word may have been more recognizable to those cultures.  The other idiomatic saying which again springs from Webster�s Universal Collegiate Dictionary, here game means �to trifle with or manipulate others.�  A best guess to whom, when and where the situation called for this game could only point back to the wild and fancy-free days of the 1920�s and 1930�s.  Those were the days when the Mob owned practically everything in America; horse races, boxing matches, basketball, football, cigarettes, liquor distribution, just name anything and the Mob had one hand on somehting.  The Mob during the Swing Years was a prime example of how an organization or large group of people could mold the system for their own lucrative gain.

         The effect of the word game used in the English language cannot be described or determined; at least, not until people encounter in discussion when its meaning refers to a person wanting to secure an advantage over someone else.  A one hundred year old quote from the O.E.D read from the view of the receiver said, �May 4/8 The English Radicals did not see why they should play the Unionist game by voting for Mr. Russell's amendment.�  The English Radicals, from the sentence, fear the Unionists� game because the English created an evil connotation when the word was heard.

        This day and age game has worked its way into the slang world, with some controversy, as two definitions follow below.  An online slang dictionary said:
. 1. Someone�s personal hustle, whatever they are good at. Can include illicit or more socially acceptable behavior. Robert Allen was droppin� game in class today. 2. For a male to engage in self-serving or deceptive behavior involving one or more females. To simply be good at talking to females. That nigga�s got no game. Both: If I have game, I can show you how to start a business, or I can have game enough to make you take your clothes off, too.  Most likely, the sexual connotation came first.2

         Specifically this slang word can be prominently heard around black communities, some college sects, and sporting events.  About one year ago, Hollywood made a film with a basketball theme.  A song from the soundtrack summed up the plot � the song, �He Got Game,� by the musical Rap group Public Enemy.

         At the present date our generation � Generation X � has been the only souls to use game regularly in its slang form; with the possibility of a new addition, I have foreseen a new life for game.  The work place, school, barber shops, even Monday Night Bingo at the YMCA could have the pleasure of �game� being heard and said in an updated form.  Read the following possible run-of-the-mill discussion between a barber and an old retired man:

        Barber Joe: �Hey, Willie!  Did you see that Mike Tyson in the Saturday Night fight on HBO last night?  Whoa boy�(he he he), did that boy have game or what!?�
Willie: �GAME!  Joe, Tyson was not even fighting a lightweight champion last night, the kid was so skinny.  A boxer does not have game just because 10 seconds into the first round, Tyson throws a woofer punch to skinny-legs Don Dupre�, causing the man to fall down - HARD.
Barber Joe: C�mon now, remember the Holyfield vs. Tyson fight back three years ago?  Tyson�s game was clearly on if that referee would not have stopped the fight when things were just starting to get good.
Willie: The man bit Holyfield�s ear OFF; that was not game, boy � that was cannibalism Attila the Hun style, if you catch my drift.

         The new meaning of game presented here in this paper has some connection to the conventional definition as stated before; on the contrary, the new meaning, coming from recent slang, is modified to describe a person having skills to achieve a goal or the ability to accomplish a task.  The time, place and the type of people who presently use and have used this essence of game is very restricted.  Mainstream slang is as far into the language of our society that the new definition for game has gotten; although, game has had the potential to be added to conventional, Standard English Dictionaries. Hopefully this paper has proven with the points that game is already a well known word among the black communities and parts of the college social crowd; game can also be used in any situation with competition, such as the boxing discrepancy dialogue from earlier.  The argument for game being added to Standard English Dictionaries has been wrapped up.    I urge the people to reconsider, and even re-read this paper again, if any of the line of reasoning has been misunderstood.  Do not let game die - let it be in print!

Brendan Von Bon