Tag Archives: sports

Slang & Expressions from Snowboarding

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There are over 370 terms, slang, idioms and expressions from the world of Snowboarding here,
http://www.abc-of-snowboarding.com/snowboarddictionary.asp , including references to tricks, snow conditions, boarders, fans, and other people in the sport.  Too many to post but just click on the link and have fun learning how to talk like and understand a snowboarder.  Enjoy the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics!
http://www.abc-of-snowboarding.com/snowboarddictionary.asp

Olympics Vocabulary – Curling Glossary

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In honor of our fabulous 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, I am posting some sports-related vocabulary and expressions, so that you may enjoy the games more and have a better chance of understanding the plays of the sports.  Enjoy!

Curling Glossary (from http://www.ecf-web.org/glossary.html )

BACK LINE The line behind the house. Once crossed a stone is out of play
BITER A stone barely touching the 12-foot ring
BLANK END An end in which neither team has a stone in the house
BONSPIEL A curling tournament
BURNT STONE A stone touched while in motion
BUTTON The smallest ring in the house. It is two feet in diameter, also called the “potlid”
DELIVERY The process of throwing a stone
CENTRE LINE The line that runs down the middle of the sheet from hack to hack
DRAW A stone that comes to rest within the house
ECF European Curling Federation
EIGHT ENDER An end where all eight stones of one team are better than the opposition’s closest
END When sixteen stones have come to rest. Similar to an inning in baseball
EXTRA END The deciding end played when the score is level after all scheduled ends have been played
FREEZE A stone coming to rest touching another stone
FREE GUARD ZONE The area between the hog line and the tee line excluding the house
FREE GUARD ZONE RULE The rule that states that an opponent’s stone in the Free Guard Zone cannot be removed from play until after the first four stones have been played
GUARD A shot that comes to rest in front of another stone for protection
HACK The pieces of rubber you push off from at either end of the sheet
HAMMER The last shot of the end
HOGGED A shot that comes to rest short or on the hog line and is removed from play
HOG LINE The line 10,06 meter (33 feet) from the hack
HOUSE The target area 12 feet in diameter
HURRY! To sweep immediately and hard
IN-TURN A stone that rotates clockwise for a right-handed player
LEAD Player of a team who plays the first two stones for his team in an end
OUT-TURN A stone that rotates counter clock-wise for a right-handed player
PEBBLE The frozen bumps on the ice that the stones ride on
PEEL A hard takeout designed to remove guards
PORT A space between two lying stones, large enough for another one to pass through
RAISE Promotion; to move a lying stone further
RCCC The Royal Caledonian Curling Club (Scotland) – the mother club of curling
RINK The building where curling takes place or
A curling team or
The sheet of ice on which a curling game is played
ROCK The alternative (North American) term for a stone
SECOND Player who plays his two stones second for his team
SHEET The total playing area for one game
SHOT A played stone or
The word used to indicate a point won at the end of an end (shot rock)
SKIP The captain of the team, usually (but not necessarily) plays last two stones of a team in an end
SPINNER A stone thrown with excessive spin
STEAL Scoring a point without last stone advantage
TAKE-OUT A stone thrown hard enough to remove another stone from play. Also called a “HIT”
TEE The cross in the centre of the house
TEE LINE The line that intersects the house at the centreline
THE “TOSS” The toss of the coin to determine last rock in the first end
THIRD Player who plays his two stones third; often Vice-Skip of the team
WCF World Curling Federation
WCT World Curling Tour
WCT-E World Curling Tour – Europe
WEIGHT The momentum applied to a stone for distance

Important Idioms from Baseball

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I love baseball, especially watching my Toronto Blue Jays team.  It’s my favourite part of summer.  I was preparing some baseball idioms and expressions for one of my clients soon, when I thought that I should at least add a few here, on this blog, for you too! 😉

It is easy to find lots of sites that have baseball idioms and expressions. You can find many with a simple search. However, knowing the idioms does not mean that you understand it. Therefore I suggest you also find a source that explains what the expressions mean as well.

For now, here is an excerpt from one such blog:

Baseball English – Important Idioms
(excerpt from “Kenneth”, a blogger on English Café.com – and that site may be expired) http://www.englishcafe.com/node/8616

Baseball Terminology

to get to first base – There are four bases in baseball. You must get to first base to start.
to come out of left field – to be thrown from the left part of the playing surface. This includes third base and the left outfielder position.
to have two strikes against you – Three strikes and you are out in baseball.
to hit a home run – to hit a ball which can not be fielded and sends the batter around the bases to score a run.
ballpark figure – The ballpark is where baseball is played.
to play hardball – Major league baseball is hardball. A hardball is a small, hard ball. There is also softball which is larger and softer.
to touch base – To touch the base with your foot
to pinch-hit – to bat for someone else
major league – the top professional baseball league
minor league – the secondary professional baseball league
to play the field – to catch, throw and generally play baseball. Playing the field is the defensive position of a team, while batting is the offensive position.

Baseball Idioms

to get to first base – accomplish the first step in a process
to come out of left field – to not be related to the current topic / to seem strange in a given situation
to have two strikes against you – to be in a difficult situation
to hit a home run – to have a large success
ballpark figure – a rough financial estimate, not exact but enough to give an indication
to play hardball – to be extremely competitive often in an unfair manner
to touch base – to contact someone – often someone with whom you haven’t been in contact for a long time
to pinch-hit – to substitute for someone
major league – serious competition or competitor
minor league – competition which is not threatening (opposite of major league)
to play the field – to date several different people

The best way to learn idioms is to organize them by a theme (like sports, or one sport in particular) and learn what not just how to use it in conversation, but the history of the expression or the ‘normal’ use of the phrase, just like it’s outlined above.  Pick a few of the expressions that speak to you, and try to use them in the next couple of days.  Watch for feedback.
Enjoy!

Swimming Idioms Part 1

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(from http://www.business-english.com/swimmingidioms/menu.php with some modifications)

If you are ‘out of your depth’, you don’t have the necessary knowledge, experience or skill to deal with a particular situation or subject. In North America, a common replacement is ‘out of your league’, as in major league baseball.
• When she started talking about quantum physics, I felt completely out of my depth/league.
• I’m an engineer. I feel out of my depth when we discuss accounting problems.
• That woman is so beautiful. She is definitely out of my league!

If you are on ‘the crest of a wave’, you are being extremely successful or popular. If something is popular, you can try to ‘ride (on) the wave’.
• That singer is on the crest of the wave in the pop charts at the moment. You can hear his music everywhere.
• He became successful riding on the wave of using British actors as villains in Hollywood movies.

If you don’t get any training before you start a job or activity, you are ‘thrown in at the deep end’.
• Everyone was off sick so I was thrown in at the deep end.
• The best way to learn the job is to be thrown in at the deep end.

If you are struggling to spend less than you earn, you are trying to ‘keep your head above water’.
• Since they increased my rent, I’ve been struggling to keep my head above water.
• With the new sponsorship, the team should be able to keep its head above water.

If a company has to stop business because of losses, it ‘goes under’.
• The company couldn’t afford to pay its suppliers and it went under.
• In this economic climate, a lot of businesses will go under.

If you are in a very difficult situation, you are ‘in deep water’.
• If the bank doesn’t give us this loan, we could be in deep water.
• He was caught stealing from his company and now he’s in deep water.
• Note: this has been commonly replaced with the more street-slang phrase ‘in deep sh_t’. This of course is a curse-word.

Swimming Idioms Part 2

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If you ‘make a splash’, you get a lot of public attention.
• We need to make a splash by holding a cocktail party for journalists.
• She made quite a splash when she wore such a small dress to the film premiere.

If a noise is ‘drowned out’, you cannot hear it because of other noises.
• The sounds of the telephone were drowned out by the noise from upstairs.
• His speech was drowned out by the chanting from the demonstrators.

If you ‘test the water’, you try to find out what you or people think about an idea or a situation before you take action.
• Before you decide to sell your house in England and move to Spain, why not go there for a trial three months to test the water?
• This is a big project. We should test the water before making such a large investment.

If a situation is ‘sink or swim’, it either fails or succeeds.
• Either this works or we are all out of a job. It’s sink or swim.
• You’ll get no training here. It’s sink or swim.

If you ‘dive into’ something, you do it without really thinking about what you are doing. Also ‘dive into it head-first’. This highlights the lack of preparation and thought.
• He dove into the project with a lot of enthusiasm but not much thought.
• Let’s take our time. There’s no point in diving into this without thinking.

If you are ‘treading water’, you are staying in the same place without making any progress.
• I’m just treading water, waiting for a job with a better salary.
• People lose motivation if they think they are just treading water in their careers.

Can you think of other idioms to do with swimming to add to this list?