Around the Hood: Wait ... What’s a 'slobber-knocker?'

Last week, I dropped a “slobber-knocker” into a write up on the Cleveland Storm football game against Las Cruces (35-25 Cleveland. Go Storm!) and felt pretty pleased with myself for the word choice. After all, I’m not sure I’ve ever used that term before and, for me, it invokes images of old NFL Films montages (“A cold slobber-knocker in the snows of Pittsburgh ...,” etc.)

My back-patting and self-congratulations quickly faded as I realized I don’t actually have any idea what the term means. Where did it come from? What are the roots? I’ve only ever heard it in reference to football. Is it a football-exclusive term? Is it even considered a “term,” or is it a “hyphenated word,” or what?

So, I figured I should do some research and make a mental note to never use a word I don’t know ever again.

Here’s what I found out, vis-à-vis “slobber-knocker:”

First, it is in fact a compound noun ... but it’s also a verb.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first reference to a “slobber-knocker” was in a 1967 edition of the Dallas Morning News. In that instance, it was a noun and used to describe a person (Don Pfrimmer), not a game.

The verb form, “slobber-knock” came about in 1978 in an issue of the Tennessean. This particular reference comes with a helpful definition: “Tennessee head coach John Majors, who often sends reporters scurrying to the dictionary after press conferences, came up with yet another new word yesterday.

"While talking to a sportswriter here, Majors related some of the instructions he gave the Vols at halftime of the victory over Ole Miss. At one point he told the squad to ‘slobberknock’ the Rebels.

"'Slobberknock, Coach?'

‘Yeh, slobberknock,’ Majors said. ‘It means to knock the slobber out of somebody.’

Evidently, the Vols did their share of slobberknocking in the second half.”

OK. That makes so much sense, I feel kind of silly.

However, it also turns out, “slobber-knocker” is a fairly-fluid word. It’s been attached to everything from trophies to an (apparently very popular) fishing lure. It’s been morphed and changed, almost since it entered the lexicon.

Heck, I can’t even find a consistent spelling (slobber knocker, slobberknocker, slobber-knocker ...)

It’s mainly associated with American football now, but it was once just a prevalent in the WWE, where it was a favorite term of commentator Jim Ross.

Thankfully, however, I didn’t find any ties to cults or Nazis or devil worshippers; no hate speech or connections to the Confederacy. Phew.

The best news, though? We are all, it seems, free to use the term “slobber-knocker” as much as we want. That’s not always a given in this PC age.