"stayer"?

[drs]

I was somewhat surprised to find the word "stayer" classified as rare in the challenge game of "yesterday"

With Australia (I live in Melbourne) moving at full gallop into its Spring Racing Carnival and heading inexorably towards the Melbourne Cup, the "race that stops a nation", we see and hear the word "stayer" - used to denote those horses bred for the longer distances - every day in the media, and it would be hard not to be familiar with the word. Since the "sport of kings" seems to be truly international, I rather imagined that the word would be considered "common" rather than "rare" in most English-speaking countries. What do others think? ... just curious.

David

[rogue_mother]

I'm guessing that stayer is not classified as common because most people on our side of the Pacific don't use that term much. Perhaps those who are into horse racing might know it, but most people here don't follow the horses much.

A great many of us Chi players have had similar moments of wondering why a particular word isn't common. A few weeks ago Tom wondered about the word rort, which is peculiar to Australia. I myself have wondered out loud in the Forum about the word plat, only to learn that outside of the United States, few people use this word, and not even that many inside the U.S. Many words have been reclassified as a result of discussions on the Forum, so people shouldn't hesitate to bring up any questions about common-ness.

[drs]

Thanks, RM. I rather thought that that must be the explanation... which leaves me wondering what such "long distance" horses are called in the US and the UK. Perhaps someone can enlighten us. Not that I'm interested in horse-racing per se - just in the words.

David

[mkenuk]

I'm not a follower of the 'King of Sports / Sport of Kings' either, but I do know what a 'stayer' is.
 I think the word is well-known in UK. I've heard people talking about 'staying the course' or 'staying the distance' .
 The opposite I suppose is a 'sprinter'.

MK