Bouncebackability
“Bouncebackability” is the ability of a sporting team or competitor to come (or “bounce”) back from a setback, such as a loss or an injury. “Sox Show Champ Class With Bounce-Back Ability” was cited in print in 1951. “Bounce back-ability”” was cited in print in 1962. “Bounce-back-ability”—referring to the bouncing ability of a ball—was cited in print in 1965.
Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie popularized “bouncebackability” after a soccer match in 2004, although the term had long been in print before this time.
Wiktionary: bouncebackability
Etymology
bounce back + -ability. First claimed [to have been invented] by Crystal Palace manager, Iain Dowie.
Noun
bouncebackability (uncountable)
1. (informal) The ability to recover from bad circumstances.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
bouncebackability, n.
Chiefly Sport.
The capacity to recover quickly or fully from a setback, bad situation, etc.
[1961 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) 18 Apr. 2 b/1 The Tribe demonstrated its bounce-back ability in a three-game series with Washington, taking the set 2-1.]
1972 Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times 25 May m3/2 The ‘bounce-back-ability’ is a valuable asset to the manager.
1991 Economist 5 Oct. 20/2 New York will again demonstrate its bouncebackability.
15 June 1951, Register Star-News (Sandusky, OH), pg. 14, col. 1 banner headline:
Sox Show Champ Class With Bounce-Back Ability
23 August 1962, Bennington (VT) Banner, “‘Bounce Back Festival: Officials Open Revamped Street,” pg. 1, col. 2:
All along Main Street, children can be seen bouncing small, red, rubber balls, symbols of the “bounce back-ability” displayed by local businesses in returning their street to an attractive shopping district after fires in 1959 and 1961 reduced a number of the establishments to ashes.
Google Books
Approaches for Co-workers in Professional Nursing
By Luella Josephine Morison and Mary Agnes Farris
St. Louis, MO: Mosby
1962
Pg. 52:
When the losses become too numerous, you will have some “bounce-back” ability and will try again rather than give up or become discouraged.
8 December 1965, The Daily Star (Hammond, LA), “War, Secret Agents Influencing Santa” by Ralph Harold, pg. 8 col. 5:
One off-beat item making a big splash is the “super” or “go-go” ball. It has amazing bounce-back-ability and is reputed to be the highest bouncing ball in the world, first produced by the same company that came out with the “hula-hoop” several years back.
Google News Archive
25 March 1970, The Blade (Toledo, OH), “Mud Hens Bounce Back,” pg. 43, col. 1:
LAKELAND, Fla.—The Toledo Mud Hens showed their bounce-back ability in an exhibition opener at Marchant Stadium Monday.
30 October 1974, The Capital Times (Madison, WI), advertising supplement, pg. ?:
Lush polyester shag has lasting bounce-back-ability.
(J. C. Penney.—ed.)
3 December 1975, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), pg. 6-A, col. 3 ad:
Bouncebackability
(Carpet Bazar.—ed.)
Google Books
Heroes:
A Novel
By David Shields
New York, NY: Simon and Schuster
1984
Pg. 150:
He has the only quality that really matters, what my high school coach used to call “bouncebackability.”
Google Books
Success Is Never Ending, Failure Is Never Final
By Robert H. Schuller
Boston, MA: G.K. Hall
1989, ©1988
Pg. ?:
Another word that illustrates constancy is “bounce-back-ability.”
Urban Dictionary
bouncebackability
The ability to bounce back.
Word invented by ex-player and now manager of Crystal Palace FC Iain Dowie.
Currently being promoted by Soccer AM, cult Sky football show shown on Saturday mornings, in an attempt to see it into the Oxford Concise Dictionary.
‘Crystal Palace have shown great bouncebackability against thier opponants to really be back in this game’
by Oxford lad September 11, 2004
OCLC WorldCat record
The prodigal tongue : dispatches from the future of English
Author: Mark Abley
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008.
Edition/Format: Book : English
Contents:
Roarific: the power of language change—
Bouncebackability: how words are created and organized—
DanAbrahams.com
February 12, 2014
Bouncebackability!!
“We tend to forget how good we are when we are not successful, and it’s important that we mind, until now, that we have done very well.” So say Arsene Wenger in the video below, coming off the back of a thrashing from Liverpool. How can coach’s help a team bounce back from an emphatic defeat? Here’s my thoughts.
Badger GP
The Top Dog for Austria is…
Published June 23, 2014 by Craig Normansell
Sergio Perez
A football manager once coined the word “bouncebackability”, ie the ability to bounce back, and its apt that in the middle of a World Cup that such a word could be said of driver of the day for Austria.