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"Tale of hte Tape"

Posted by Bob on October 07, 2003

In Reply to: "Tale of hte Tape" posted by Bruce Kahl on October 06, 2003

: : CAn anyone tell me where the phrase "tale of the tape" comes from and what it means?

: I am familiar with the financial origins.
: The NY Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange used to report trades on a ticker tape machine. The "tape" was a very narrow piece of paper upon which the trades were printed as they happened.
: If there were a lot of trades going on with a particular issue the action could be followed by following the tape, hence the "Tale of the Tape".

Also used as a headline (do they still do this?) before a championship prize fight. Newspapers would print a picture of the two boxers, and run a number of captions comparing their measurements (height, reach, chest, chest expanded, shoulders, bicep, etc.) The tape in this case was a measuring tape.

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