The Daily Feather — A Confused, Close Struggle

Etymological evolution is extraordinary. Dynamic terminology journeys from root to verb to noun. The Old French escarmouche, an irregular fight between a small number of soldiers ties to Old High German’s scirmen and schirm, which promised to defend as leather once protected shields. In Middle English, skirmen, a verb, referred to fencing, or fighting in small parties with weapons. The Danish skjærmydsel described a line of soldiers thrown out in advance of the main army. Scrimmage, the sports term modern English speakers use, emerged in 1857 to designate a confused, close struggle around the ball between players. As is the case with any number of American football terms, the word emanated from rugby’s scrum, which itself evolved from scrummage. By 1916, said players were on the same team, giving spectating fans a season preview as the offense and defense squared off. Today a scrimmage can be two units of the same team or a practice game between two teams. On Friday evening, Danielle was in the stands watching her son’s Culver Eagles scrimmage the Lewis Cass Kings. Yes, we are ready for Friday Night Lights in Indiana and Longhorn Football chasers on Saturdays.

Forget the depth of hope for your team’s prospects at the start of a season unmarred by rankings and standings. Pigskin on gridiron is vastly appealing because of the distraction it promises. The never-ending inflationista tirade, geopolitics (and worse, domestic politics), the Federal Reserve and permanently-prayed-for Powell Pivot, the aviation economic metaphors that are aging poorly, China’s ‘critical’ role in all of the above…the list goes on and on. Because of the bevy of biases, it’s increasingly difficult for investors to glean the true state of the economy and its implications for the financial markets.