1513: Pitching or Throwing a Fit Feb 2, 2019

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Often, words will have definitions that are petty straight forward, but these won't always follow a clear pattern. This is true a lot of prepositions, such as how an alarm will go 'off' before it is turned 'off', but also some words just don't make a lot of sense. For instance, 'throw' and 'pitch' are used in a lot of the same scenarios, including 'throwing' or 'pitching' a fit, and while those words can relate to making something, like throwing a party or pitching a tent, the fact that they can mean that at all, at the same time as they both mean to propel a ball doesn't make a lot of sense. In fact, while the phrase "having a fit" can be dated back to the 17th century, 'pitching' or 'throwing' one isn't attested for until about 200 years later, even though it is all just a continued process of stretching a word's already plentiful definitions.

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