Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#159268 05/01/06 06:34 AM
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1
A
ambros Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
A
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1
I just saw the theme of the week -- sports terms. My guess is that a most appropriate word will not be among the ones discussed, because chess is not considered a sport by many. The word is STALEMATE.

#159269 05/01/06 10:00 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3
M
stranger
Offline
stranger
M
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3
What I would like to know is how a compound "word" like "sticky wicket" (sticky (adj) + wicket(n)) can be called "a noun". My understanding of the English language is that each individual word is a "part of speech" and, therefore, we cannot have an "adjectivally modified noun" being described as a noun.

#159270 05/01/06 10:29 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
It's a noun phrase, if that helps.

#159271 05/01/06 11:58 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
4
stranger
Offline
stranger
4
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
As we are in Lord Stanley's season I am looking forward to some hockey words but I write to thank you for the Emily Dickinson poem. I was transported to third grade when at least 50% of the class rose to recite this - one of the easiest to memorize in a hurry. Thanks for the grin.

#159272 05/01/06 11:42 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
J
stranger
Offline
stranger
J
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
Regarding "sticky wicket", which you say originates from "when the ground is partly wet, resulting in the ball bouncing unpredictably", my cricket-playing friends disagree.

They say the ground upon which the game is played is called the "pitch"; the "wicket" is a set of three sticks that forms the target of the bowler and is defended by the batsman. When the bowler knocks over the wicket, the batsman's turn at bat is finished. So a "sticky wicket" would be a difficult problem for the bowler, and in a larger sense implies a difficult or embarrassing problem or situation.

#159273 05/02/06 01:46 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Wow, ambros, it sure took you a while to post! Glad you finally made the decision!

Welcome to mclean, 44kate, and Joe E, also. Hope you all stick around.

EDIT: Joe, I hope I didn't cause offense by the way I typed your name. I only later realized how it would sound when spoken, and that therefore it might have "hit you the wrong way", as it were. It's just that I often shorten peoples' names here to something that is easy for me to type. No offense was intended.
============================================================

Attention, please: I did not get my Word A Day today . Did anyone else not get theirs?

#159274 05/02/06 08:51 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
D
stranger
Offline
stranger
D
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
Although wicket does refer to the three sticks (often called stumps) and the two bails that sit atop the stumps, wicket has by common use also come to mean the pitch between and including the pair of wickets at either end. It is also used to refer to a team's batsman being out as in "fall of wicket", which you'll often see in scorecards as FoW.

However, i would disagree somewhat with the technical definition of a sticky wicket as just being partly wet. It really refers to a drying wicket, the faster the wicket's drying, the stickier it usually gets. An archetypal example would be a short sharp downpour followed by sunshine on a warm day. The surface of the pitch is soft and spongy but hard underneath causing the ball to "stick", even to the point of making divots and it will deviate unpredictably both horizontally and vertically as the result of this. Getting "caught on a sticky" is something best avoided, which i suppose is what makes it an often appropriate description.

It's one of the things that make cricket such a great game, sort of being at one with the weather.

#159275 05/02/06 01:23 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
S
stranger
Offline
stranger
S
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
In my distant youth, I went to school in England, where I was forced to play cricket. (Like Anu, I completely lack the sports gene.) At that time, "sticky wicket" was meant literally -- when the ball (or bat or batter) brushed the wicket, and the bails trembled but failed to fall.


Steve
#159276 05/02/06 07:38 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
Z
stranger
Offline
stranger
Z
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1
Quote:

In my distant youth, I went to school in England, where I was forced to play cricket. (Like Anu, I completely lack the sports gene.) At that time, "sticky wicket" was meant literally -- when the ball (or bat or batter) brushed the wicket, and the bails trembled but failed to fall.




Bravo Steve! I was waiting for someone to zero in on the origin of this phrase. The wet ground explanation is close but not on target.

Most of the world does not know cricket. The point of hitting the ball is to have it bounce into the wickets and knock off one or two of the two bails that balance on top of them. The wicket configuration is a set of 3 parallel poles at equal height hammered into the ground like this: | | | Now imagine taking a couple sticks whose length is equal to the distance between the centers of the tops of the wicket poles: - - You rest them atop the wickets so that you get a double arch design, sort of like this but with the dashes here sitting on top of the wickets: |-|-| What actually gets 'sticky' is the wicket configuration such that when the wickets are struck by the ball, the bails on top hang onto the tops of the wickets when typically they would fall. What you have is an unpredictable, irrational, annoying situation. The sticky wicket is not cooperating with your effort to knock off the bails. And yes, ground or pitch conditions could be one cause of the failure of the ball to knock off the bails. You might also want to check if one of the opposing team has stuck his gum under the bails to tick you off.

I hope this over-explanation helps. You can see how this simple situation in cricket can be applied to much of the rest of life.

#159277 05/02/06 07:52 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
whilst you cricket-ears work this out amongst yourselves, it should be noted that none of this is going to get through to the mAnu behind the curtain -- he usually finds no time to monitor these forums. Y'all should all take this to the email route; but on second thought, Anu has probably already gotten a ton of email on this and will address his error (if it exists) in his next newsletter.

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 444 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5