Even
people who have absolutely no interest in watching or playing sport may use
sporting terms in their general everyday speech and writing without realising
it. It is also the case that some of these usages cross cultural divides even
when the sports in question do not.
Baseball
Baseball
is a sport that belongs mainly to the continent of North
America . Although it is played elsewhere, it does not occupy
anything like as central a place in the cultural realm of, say, the United Kingdom as it does the United States
When
you start a new enterprise, such as in business, you are always pleased to
reach “”first base”, and if you succeed at the first attempt you may achieve a
“home run”. However, somebody may throw you a “curveball” at some stage.
The
term “struck out” is often used to mean a situation in which someone has
failed, but this is a bit ambiguous, because the word “strike” means to hit
something, and a strike in baseball means precisely the opposite.
Cricket
To a
speaker of English in the cricket-playing world, the language is full of
“cricketisms”, although only a few of them have become regulars in
non-cricketing countries such as the United States
At
the outset, there is the expression “it’s not cricket”, meaning that something
is not fair or there is sharp practice going on. This shows the Englishman’s
enduring conviction that cricket is a game for gentlemen who would never dream
of cheating!
If
you cannot solve a problem you may be “stumped”, possibly because the problem
was something of a “googly” being delivered on a “sticky wicket”. However, if
you do find a solution you may be able to “hit it for six”.
Golf
The
words borrowed from golf seem to bear a similar pattern to those from cricket,
as you can be “stymied”, “bunkered” or “hit into the long grass” in real life
just as often as on the golf course. However, it is always satisfying to score
a “hole in one” in any field of life, and to reward yourself with a drink at
the “19th hole”.
Tennis
A tennis racket can be “highly strung”, as can its owner!
It
is not often realised that the word “penthouse” comes from tennis, it being the
structure with a sloping roof that runs round three sides of the court in “real
tennis”, the game that bears more resemblance to modern squash than to lawn
tennis.
And
I suppose that the phrase “you cannot be serious” would be heard far less
frequently had John McEnroe not used it to such great effect when playing at Wimbledon in 1981.
Football
Most
of the familiar “sporting” words that are relevant to all codes of football
cannot be said to owe their origin to the game, as they derive from ordinary
language and have been assimilated into the sport, such as “goal”, “try”,
“tackle” and “kick off”. However, some words and phrases do appear to have
moved the other way, such as “scrum”, “kicked into touch” and “taken a dive”.
General
The
above has only been a cursory glance at a few word and phrase derivations from
a small number of sports, although there are also some that apply across a whole
range of sporting endeavour. There are “referees” and “umpires” for all sorts
of non-sporting activities. We all want to compete on a “level playing field”,
from the “starting pistol/gun” to the “chequered flag”.
© John Welford
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