Jokes: Where did "high ball" come from?

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	Name:	architect -
	Subject:	Where did "high ball" come from?
	Date:	11/26/2010 4:24:02 PM

Today we still sometime use the word "high ballin" to mean going really fast. I have no idea if this story is true, but when I was growing up we lived next to a man who worked in a white collar position for the Southern Railroad. He was something of a railroad historian and once told my father and me of the railroad orgins of the term "high ballin". At that time (1950's) most rail signals had become the still used red/yellow/green lights for stop/proceed slowly and with caution/proceed. This system had replaced the old semaphore system where horizontal/45 degree/vertical positions signalled stop/caution/proceed. He said In the earliest rail days a large ball on a mast was the common signal system. The ball was placed low on the mast/half up the mast/at the top of the mast for stop/caution/proceed...hence the high ball meant you could go fast or "high ball" it.

Now...can anyone tell us where term "high ball" for a drink comes from and whether it relates to this tale?

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Where did Piss Poor come from? - HubCap - 11/23/2010 8:08:16 AM

Where did "high ball" come from? - architect - 11/26/2010 4:24:02 PM

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