El Clasico, Chinaman, Hat-Trick And More - This Is How These Popular Sporting Terms Were First Coined
This should give you all the answers.
Sport speaks a different language altogether. For someone who doesn't stay immersed in the world of sport, running into certain terms can be baffling. For instance, someone who doesn't know a lot about cricket might not know the meaning of third umpire. Or someone who doesn't know much about football might ask around who a Fourth Official is.
This article is an attempt to make life easy for those taking their baby steps into the world of sport. So here's a list of popular sporting terms and their origins.
1) El Clasico
AFP
This term defines any football match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. The term emerged back in the late 1920s. Madrid was the capital city and government headquarters of Spain and Catalonia was oppressed by dictatorship. The Catalans had only one way out to rejoice and that is by beating the football club that represents Madird. Hence, El Clasico became the mother of all football contests.
2) Hat-trick
You must have heard this term very often. The term first appeared back in 1958 when a cricketer called HH Stephenson picked three wickets on the trot. After the match, fans put in money to gift him a hat. Soon hat-trick became a household term. Over time, other sports also lapped up the term.
3) Chinaman
After Kuldeep Yadav made news against Australia, people started figuring out what chinaman is. This term surfaced back in 1933 after Ellis Achong, the first cricketer of Chinese origin, bowled left-arm leg spin with an unusual bowling action. Immediately after going back to the pavilion, the dismissed batsman said, "Fancy being done by a Chinaman'
4) Duckworth-Lewis
This method is used to salvage a cricket match that has been hampered by rain or other weather circumstances. The term was coined after two English statisticians -- Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis -- who devised the way. The D/L formula was first used back in 1996-97 in an ODI match between Zimbabwe and England
5) Grand Slam
The term was first coined by John F. Kieran from the The New York Times, who used the term to describe all four major tennis tournaments in a year. The term 'slam' however emerges from the card games played back in the 19th century. The term 'Grand Slam' was first used in golf back in the 1930s.
6) Love
It exactly doesn't mean love in common parlance. This is actually used to denote a zero in tennis. It originated from the French world 'L'eouf', which means egg. When it was coined is not known, but this certainly is some knowledge for some people who're readying up to the French Open.
7) Posterize
Posterize is a term widely used during basketball matches. The term rose to prominence during the 1990s when Michael Jordan was in his prime. Posterize defines the action of a player dunking the ball over a defender, which is so good that it is likely to end up becoming a poster. Nowadays, this term is also used when one basketball player makes another one looks silly on the court.
8) Garagiste
This term was coined by Enzo Ferrari to describe a fresh bunch of racing cars from Britain that challenged his team at races with much smaller budgets. Some of the cars were Coopers or from the company called Team Lotus.
9) Duck
This is a widely used term in cricket. Everyone knows exactly when to use it - when a batsman gets out for a duck. This term goes back to the year 1866 when the Prince of Wales got out in a match without troubling the scorers. A newspaper colmnist wrote that 'the Prince got out on a duck's egg'. As a duck's egg is referred to as a zero, the term slowly snowballed into a the term 'Duck'.
