John Kruk, Tom McCarthy discuss words like ‘thrillionaire’ and ‘rizz’

When tuning into a baseball game, one never knows the topics that the announcers will find themselves discussing. During Saturday’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia announcers Tom McCarthy and John Kruk found themselves discussing the origins of certain words.

It started with a FanDuel Casino commercial that used “thrillionaire,” which Kruk acknowledged at the end of the commercial.

“Thrillionaire,” he said.

“Thrillionaire, John,” McCarthy confirmed.

“I’m not sure that’s a real word,” Kruk replied.

“Could be at the end of the year,” McCarthy said. “Webster’s might put it in as a word.”

Kruk acknowledged the possibility before turning the conversation to other words.

“Like, ‘rizz?’ I think ‘rizz’ is in there now,” Kruk said.

“I think ‘rizz’ is in there now,” McCarthy acknowledged. “There’s another one that people always use that was made up. ‘Physicality.’ That’s the word.”

“I hear that every time I watch a basketball game, one of the announcers says that. Physicality.” Kruk said.

“I don’t think that used to be a word,” McCarthy replied.

After the game, McCarthy responded to a viewer on X, who told him that “‘physicality’ has been used as a noun since the 1500s.”

Kruk then shifted gears, slightly.

“I wonder who came up with, like, words,” he said.

So, if anyone out there knows who came up with words, inquiring minds want to know.