Oshi-dashi'd message

[Basten <cbasten@statgen.ncsu.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 21:57:19 +0000
From: Alex Ferguson <abf@csmail.ucc.ie>
To: sumo@statgen.ncsu.edu
Subject: Touch and go.


Mikko:
> another one is "it was touch and go sumo" to which I have
> a hunch and uneducated guess that it means that the bout was seesawing and
> rikishi took turns in chasing each other just like in popular
> international and if there are other civilizations also intergalactical
> game where individual A has to catch individual B and make a contact and
> then run away as the caught B has to catch the A then and hence the "touch
> and go"???? Baffled!

According to http://www.etymonline.com, a very good guess indeed!

"Touch and go is apparently from a tag-like game, first recorded 1655."

I doubt that the phrase really conjures up that image for the average
native speaker, mind you;  it's really just used idiomatically to mean
any marginal contest or outcome.  (I've also seen it claimed that the
phrase is naval in origin, and certainly it's sometimes applied in the
context of modern carrier-based aircraft landings, but that may be more
a matter of back-formation.)

Cheers,
Alex.