The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-28
LANGUAGE OF SPORTS.
Its Use in Describing Everyday Life
Increasing.

Almost every sport and game has
increased the colloquial vocabulary of
the Englist language, and though
many of the terms for whose applica-
ton to daily occurrences various sports
and pastimes are responsible are not to
be found III dictionaries, their use is
constantaly increasing on the tops of
many tongues They may be slang,
but slang in these days is a part of the
language.
Baseball, the national game of Amer
lea, has taken a lions share in thus
adding to the expressions one hears in
everyday conversation. Three times
and out" originally meant the failure
of a batsman to hit the ball. Now it is
applied to any failure; it may be in love-
it may be in business. A "muffer,''
first ball player who dropped the ball
after it was in his hands, is now any
one who cannot keep his mental or
physical grip on things concrete or
otherWlse. a base hit" is applied to
any successful venture, and the term
"a hit, most frequently heard in re-
lation to public performers on plat
forms, draws its meaning from the
baseball diamond. He made a home
run of it, is often heard relative to the
career. Of some successful business man.
Ffnsers distorted at the Joints by ac-
cldent are called baseball fingers >,
and are frequently marks of identifi-
cation The glass arm" of the pitcher
now applies to any crippled arm
"A grand stand play is an act per-
formed to bring forth applause, and is
as often used to chara cterize political
moves as it is double plays. The
caught at the home plate of the base
ball field is synonymous with the falls
at the last ditch" of the hunting field
Now both expressions describe the fail
ure of that which had every appearance
OF success Got his base on balls" re-
fers to some lucky wight who through
no effort of his own, achieved a much
sought goal
ssRaaobiv1c- tho ooo1 ~ +x-o;fsoe 49, -.
1hcatlon of life's ambition, even as it
spells success on the football or polo
Held. BoWled over is taken direct
from the cricket field. A person knock
ness who succumbs to a superior rival
is like the fallen wicket. To Rugby
football is owned the expression s'the
lineup" whether it is used to describe
those at a ticket Office window or the
wall flowers at a dance A foul tackle
is taking unfair advantage of a rival in
everyday life just as it is on the grid
| iron.
Horse racing has given words innum-
cradle to Colloquial speech. made a
runaway race of it, signifies one who
is far ahead of all rivals. Needs toe
weights" is often heard in talk about
person who is carried away by a
sense of his own Importance A bad
break traces its origin to the trot-
ting track. Give him his head is an
other way of saying lie him take his
own course Inc race track freQuen-
ter would call deeeiver an in and out
rider A ringer is the most common
expression used to signify one who is
sailing under false coiors, and "a dark
horse" as often stands for a political
candidate concerning whom little is
known, as it does for horse whose
pedigree and merits are mysterious.
shes high stopper" remarks one of
a woman who excites his admiration,
or to express the same meaning in an
other race track form, he says, She
a thoroughbred Takes the bit in his
teeth is a way Of explaining how a
person refuses 10 Eesd advice. The