Just yesterday, I happened on the term “half-nelson” in a book by Ronnie Kasrils (no political connection intended). I had heard the term before but never seen it in context.

To South Africans, there can be no ‘half-nelson’ as we had a Nelson who was anything but ‘half’.  Of course, I’m talking about Nelson Mandela who was the full embodiment of a great man who embraced life with both hands and everything that it had to throw at him.

To the rest of the world ‘half-nelson’ is part of the English language.  Half-nelson describes a wrestling hold in which one arm is passed under the opponent’s arm from behind to the back of the neck.

Fractions

We can assume that if there’s half there must be a whole nelson. Indeed, there is a “full nelson”, from which ‘half-nelson’ is derived, which dates back to the early 19th century.

Who owns the name? 

However, in later years there was a challenger – to the naming rights that is. That man was a wrestler named Bobby Nelson who brought the move to professional matches and became popular for using it.

Regardless of who wins/won the battle of naming it – half-nelson is a quirky description that certainly piqued my curiosity.

Apparently, the ‘nelson’ comes in quarter and three-quarter holds too. And if you want to know all about it, here’s the whole story.. https://grapplezilla.com/full-nelson-half-nelson

That’s all the nelsons I can handle for one day and I don’t plan to use it any time soon.

How years and ears distort the English language: origin of idioms

New word from a six year old: Palindromes and portmanteus: how words are formed