Devoted to technical writing and technical writers

Again, we find a political term that traces its origins to horse racing. This word, ALSO RAN, probably comes from the practice in racing of naming the first three horses to place in a given race. The horses, jockeys, times elapsed, owners, etc., are all mentioned in the newspapers or accounts of the race. The rest of the field….well, they also ran in the race.

In a political contest, it is customary to rate the most probable to win among the candidates. Those with slim or marginal chances of winning would then become known as also rans, in direct allusion to those horses that failed to make the grade in a race.  In this century, the term has come to describe any person who would not place in any contest, whether this be in athletics, academics, or even in the story of the human race.

sourced by JMJF