Tag archives: sporting expressions
Of chanceless innings and textbook shots: the language of cricket and what it says about the game
Wickets and dropped catches Cricket absolutely confounds my wife; she simply can’t get to grips with it. I’ve tried my best to explain it to her but I stumble the moment terms like wicket and over get mentioned. Coming home on Sunday evenings and telling her how I’ve played is at best a comedy show [...]
Place your bets: getting geed up for the Grand National
The only time I’ve ever been in a betting shop was more than twenty years ago, on National day. Though not a betting man by nature, like much of the British population my dad would have a flutter on the Grand National. He took me with him one year, and I remember the small, close [...]
March Madness: The Final Four
While the British and American heads of state were busy fine-tuning their own March Madness bracket picks over dinner last week, the Oxford Dictionaries Bracket Challenge has already hit its stride. How did your favorite sports expressions do? The gloves are off In the closest match-up yet, the venerable saved by the bell proved to [...]
March Madness: The Elite Eight
We’re back with Round 2 of the Oxford Dictionaries Bracket Challenge, and the competition is heating up. Saved by the bell, an expression I always assumed to have originated from a high school colloquialism thanks to the ubiquity of my favorite Saturday morning sitcom of yesteryear, trounced the formidable rough and tumble with an impressive [...]
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