Spanish Made High School Simple by David S. Luton

"Bench-clearing brawl" and other sports terms

Hello friends,

I'd like to return again to the theme of sports, which is ironic since I'm not much of a sports fan. However, I recognize that sports are an important part of our culture, so it's hard not to be aware of certain terms or expressions which are commonly used. The term "bench-clearing brawl" is one that I usually associate with baseball, although I suppose that it can also be used in basketball and other sports. It refers to a fight, which may have originated between only two players of opposite teams, in which all the players of both teams (also sometimes including coaches and fans) participate. The term "bench" refers to where the players of most team sports sit (in baseball the bench is found inside the little shelter which is called a "dug-out"). The adjective "bench-clearing" refers to the fact that all the players and sometimes coaches leave (clear) the bench to participate in the fight (in all fairness, some may actually be trying to break it up!). Even though fights during baseball games are common, in the U.S., we often often associate fighting with hockey. As an example of this, the famous American comedian Rodney Dangerfield (whose slogan was "I get no respect!") said in one of his monologues:

"I get no respect! One time I went to a fight (i.e. boxing match), and a hockey game broke out!"

Many Americans like myself see humor in that, as it's stereotypical that during a hockey game a fight is likely to break out.

Another expression related to sports fights which is peculiar to baseball is "charge the mound". This refers to when a batter (usually angered by being hit by a pitch, especially if this happens more than once) runs toward (i.e. charges) the pitcher to engage in a fist fight (the area where the pitcher stands is referred to as the "pitcher's mound").

Another common sports term is "bench-warmer". This refers to a person who "warms the bench" (i.e. sits on the sidelines because the coach doesn't consider him or her talented enough to play) to so speak. I tend to associate this term with basketball, although I think this could be used with any sport (i.e. where there are extra players who are used only in cases of emergency).

I welcome input from all my friends from the U.S., U.K. and other countries regarding these terms and expressions or others that you would like to mention.

Baseball or cricket, anyone?

Here is some interesting information that I found from the book Divided by a Common Language: A Guide to British and American English by Christopher Davies (1997, Houghton Mifflin, pgs. 125-126):

"Americans often use sports terms in conversations. One sport from which a lot of terms are borrowed is baseball, which, by the way, evolved from the British game called rounders."

a ballpark figure (a rough estimate)
a tough call (a difficult decision)
The bases are loaded. (It's a make-or-break decision.)
batting a thousand (going great guns)
batting zero (getting nowhere)
cover all bases (take care of everything)
didn't get to first base (didn't accomplish anything)
go to bat for someone (be someone's advocate)
be off-base (hold a mistaken idea)
out in left field (off track)
screwball (eccentric or irrational person)
step up to the plate (make a stand)
strike out (fail)
throw someone a curve[ball] (bowl someone a googly)
touch base (get in touch with someone)
whole new ball game (completely different situation)
You're up./You're at bat. (It's your turn)

I've also learned that the British have some expressions that come from the sport cricket. Here are a few which I gleened from different sources:

knocked for six - thrown for a loop
to bowl someone a googly - to throw someone a curve(ball)
on a good wicket - in a good position
on a sticky wicket - in a bad position or difficult situation
not batting on a full wicket - not playing with a full deck
Well bowled! - Well done!

I welcome comments from my American and British friends, and please let me know if you have any more expressions that I've omitted.

The "in suspension" problem resolved for now

Dear friends,
Since no one responded to my blog query regarding the meaning of the phrase"You're in suspension." from the Sex Pistols song "Liar", I decided to put the question on Yahoo Answers UK, I received the following two responses which I found to be helpful:

"Unfortunately the Sex Pistols often wrote lyrics that made no sense whatsoever. 'You're in suspension' means nothing in the UK either."

"...it is an ungrammatical way of saying 'you are in a period of suspension', ie if you lie again you will face the implied consequences (just like the sentence from a legal conviction can be suspended until a repeat offence). However, I expect for a group like the Sex Pistols, we are over-analysing them."

I am grateful for this input, and for the time being I consider the matter concluded. Even so, if any of my friends from the UK would like to comment regarding this, I would be glad to hear from you.

I'm no dog's body!

Hello all!
Here's another example of a term that's only used in the UK. I also found this quote in a song by the Sex Pistols (Anarchy in the U.K.).
A dog's body in American parlance is gofer. This word is pronounced the same as the word gopher (a rodent), but is spelled with an f because it really means go for (i.e. the errand boy who goes here and there doing your errands and who remains at your beckon call, as we say).

suspension, chalk and cheese, taking the mickey

Hello friends,

This is a follow up comment to my post yesterday regarding the quote "You're in suspension." from the Sex Pistols' song. I thought that I should add that in the US, a student can be suspended from school for bad behavior and the same thing can happen to employees or athletes (it implies a temporary leave of absence as opposed to a permanent expulsion). We tend to use the adjective (suspended) more and the noun (suspension) less, so we may occasionally say that someone is "in suspension" (but I think very rarely, we are more likely to say that the person is/was [or has been] suspended). In any case, I hope that someone can shed some light with regard to the meaning of Mr. Rotten's (i.e. Mr. Lydon's) pronouncement.

I would also like to take this opportunity to talk about some misunderstandings (or complete lack of understanding) that occured during my teenage years when I would listen to songs by British artists. Here are some words or expressions that are not generally used or understood in the US which I misunderstood in songs from the UK:

Song/Group/Expression or Phrase
No Feelings/ Sex Pistols/ "You never realise I take the piss out of you!"
New York/ Sex Pistols/ "like cheese and chalk"
Anarchy in the U.K. / Sex Pistols/ "a shopping scheme"
Who are you?/ The Who/ "I took the Tube on out of town..."
Slip Kid/ The Who/ "I've got my vacuum flask full of hot tea..."
Cut My Hair/ The Who/ "Why do I have to be different to them?"
Saturday Night´s/ Elton John/ "My sister looks cute in her braces and boots..."
Alright for Fighting
Grimsby/ Elton John/ "The shingle beach did ring."
Yesterday's Rain/ Sweet/ "You know an ain't no ginger..."

Regarding the first one, most Americans have no idea what it means to take the mickey or to take the piss (I know now that it means to make fun of). We will say the slightly vulgar "I have to take a piss." meaning I have to urinate which I believe the British also say; but take the piss means nothing to us. Therefore I assumed that Mr. Rotten must have said "I'll kick the piss out you!" because that was the only thing that even partly made sense (especially since he followed with"I'll beat you black and blue").

Americans also don't use or understand chalk and cheese (we typically say "as different as night and day" or "apples and oranges" the latter having more specifically to do with situations or problems that are described as being the same when they're actually not. For that reason, I couldn't believe that Mr. Rotten was really saying cheese and chalk, so I assumed that he said "Cheech and Chong" (a well-known comedy duo popular in the 70's in the US who frequently talked about smoking marihuana, they also made a film or two).

The word "scheme" generally has a bad connotation in American English (it's like a devious plot). I suppose that Mr. Rotten was talking about what we would call a "shopping trip". In any case, I just ignored the reference to a shopping scheme because it didn't seem to be very important to understanding the song.

Sir Elton's reference to shingles and braces I found to be somewhat confusing, because shingles for us are roof tiles (and not beach pebbles as they would be understood in the UK), and I misunderstood the reference to braces (i.e. what are used to hold up trousers) to mean a brace for the teeth (which is what the word braces means in the US). The latter misunderstanding was especially more likely since we have traditionally considered girls (esp. young girls) wearing a mouth brace to be "cute". Regarding my confusion over the word shingles (which is also a skin ailment somehow related to the same virus which causes chickenpox), I simply dismissed it as being "one of those English things".

I likewise ignored Mr. Daltry's reference to "The Tube" and vacuum flask (what we call the subway and thermos respectively) because I didn't consider them important to understanding the meaning of the song and I dismissed them as just "English stuff".

Mr. Townsend's use of the preposition to ("Why do I have to be different to them?" - as said by the character Jimmy in the quasi rock opera Quadrophenia - when referring to his parents with whom he didn't get on well) I found somewhat confusing since in American English we would say "Why do I have to be different from them?" which led me believe that he was really saying "Why do I have to act differently with them or toward them?" which he wasn't saying at all.

Regarding (the late) Mr. Connolly's reference to ginger, I also ignored and dismissed as "one of those British things" (he was actually Scottish). I know now that he was saying "I ain't no queer..." because apparently the word carried that connotation in the 70's (a friend of mine who lives in London explained to me that ginger meant queer in cockney rhyming slang from ginger beer, and it's now more commonly used as a derrogatory way to refer to a redhead).

My most humorous misunderstanding of song lyrics had nothing to do with British English, just my poor listening skills (or perhaps my poor knowledge of the game chess when I was a twelve year old). When Elton John said in his song Someone Saved My Life Tonight "just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen", I though he said "just a pawn out-played by a darn and knitting queen! Haaaaaaaaaa!!! By the way, in case you didn't know, that song refers to the night that a friend convinced him (Elton) not a marry a woman to whom he was engaged and who he really didn't want to marry. However, he was to afraid to tell her this and decided to commit suicide by turning on the gas of his oven (or perhaps the cooker)and lying on the kitchen floor hoping to kill himself with the fumes. Ironically, he opened the kitchen window which really didn't help him at all in achieving his goal. He was subsequently found and rescued by (if I'm not mistaken) his lyric writer Bernie Taupin. Even though suicide is nothing to laugh at, I can't help finding amusing the fact that he opened the window which led me to tell one friend, "Elton John is definitely more skillful at writing songs than he ever was as a suicide committer!".

I welcome all comments and input. Please, let me know if you have had similar misunderstand of words or expressions, especially as they relate to American vs. British English.

Which came first, the chicken..?

Or the egg? Yes, we say this in the States. Do you also say it in the UK? You see, that is precisely my dilemna: I simply don't know. And not only do I not know which expressions and sayings are also used in the UK, I also can't be sure where they originated. Forgive me for sounding like the former U.S. defense minister Donald Rumsfeld who amazed the English-speaking world (I wouldn't be surprised if even certain unnamed persons in Buckingham Palace changed their stoic never-changing facial expressions for one of surprise, utter bewilderment or even amusement!) with his deeply philosophical declaration: "There are things that we don't know, that we know we don't know, and things that we don't know that we don't know that we don't know..." Anyway, back to my point. I recently published a book (El inglés correcto e informal: Un glosario estadounidense, David S. Luton, 2008) which is intended for Spanish-speaking people who are learning English and whose title translates in English: Proper and Informal English: An American Glossary. Actually, the Spanish word that I used which translates American (estadounidense) literally means pertaining to the United States (i.e. excluding Canada) because the book contains a chapter on American slang, informal speech, idioms and other various terms of cultural importance (like Americana and Dixie, and even British terms such as Union Jack and John Bull since I also mentioned the American equivalents: Old Glory and Uncle Sam; I also included words like the verb cherish which is neither informal nor exclusive to the US, but which I considered an important verb which has no exact Spanish equivalent). I made a point of stating in that chapter's introduction that many of these words, terms and expressions are also used in the UK and other English-speaking countries;however, I used the word estadounidense because I could only be sure that all of them were used (or at least understood in the U.S.). That is to say, I have no way of knowing which ones are also used or at least understand in the UK or Canada or Australia, etc. Of course, I suppose that there are also situations where two countries use the same expression, but with slightly different wording (for example Americans say "Knock on wood." and I believe the British say "Touch wood.", i.e. for good luck). I also have a great interest in traditional children songs and nursery rhymes (children poems, the most famous being Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes). I was amazed to find out via my internet research that the famous "Ring around the Rosies" nursery rhyme (that's how we call it in the States, I believe that in the UK they call it "Ring a Ring o' Roses" or something similar) has different variations in almost every English-speaking country (i.e. Canada's version is slightly different from ours which is slightly different from Australia's which is slightly different from the UK's, etc.). I also found it interesting that the traditional Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes in US have slightly different wording from the modern version used by children in the US (including the versions that I used as a child in the 70's). So I ended up buying two different books of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes: one which contained the poems in their traditional American form which I believe date to the 19th century or possibly even the 18th century, and another which contains more modern versions of the same. My belief is that the wording of the tradional Mother Goose nursery rhymes in the US are probably very similar to the wording of the same in the UK (but I have never verified this, and I suppose that the wording has possibly changed somewhat in the UK, but I can't be sure; for that reason I welcome the input of my British friends concerning this!). I suppose that there are persons who have already done extensive research regarding which slang words and idioms are used in common amongst English-speaking countries and which one's are unique to certain countries, and my hat would certainly be off to that person or persons (another expression that we use!). I assume that many informal words, expressions and idioms used in the US (possibly including the one I just used) have their origins in the UK. However, I also recognize that many Americanisms have found their way into the UK (I recently read a blog from someone from the UK who was complaining about this trend). In closing, I will give one example. In the US, we have a saying: The proof is in the pudding. This is one that I would assume has its origin in the UK (but how do I really know that it didn't come from Canada or Australia or even originate in the US?). I believe that there are books and websites available to answer such doubts. If only I had the time to read them!

Anyway, as always, I welcome comments and input from my friends from all over the world regarding this topic.