WHY BATTY?

Our Sunday School teacher is a retired English Prof. at ASU currently enroll in Phoenix Seminary. And he knows words and origins and deviations. In addition to much scripture. And literature.

Which is to say that I admire his knowledge and love of learning. You see while I wonder about things, he'd research and have an answer. Maybe if he started a blog...

So what am I pondering today? Bats, batty and where did we get such descriptions and notions that emanate from the word?

For one thing, why is it a baseball bat? Does it come from a shortened version for baton? But why? Why not a board or a shortened version-- a boa? Or does it come from batter? As one who bats a ball. But no one bats a ball on purpose; they hit it; thus, a hitter. Finally, where did battery come from, that is, the term used for pitcher and catcher? Why not spark plugs? Or distributor caps?

Why did bats get such a bad rap in the first place? Having bats in the belfry is not a good thing. Nor is being batty. Also dingbat is kinda double crazy. That is, dingy and batty.

Even Batman. Why does he hang around with Robin anyway? It seems there are lots of women that like him. And if it's just a man comaraderie thing, then there are lots of cooler superheroes to hang with.

At least the Batmobile is cool and gives some dignity to the bat world.