The term sticky wicket, meaning “a difficult situation” comes from the game of cricket. When wet, the grassy playing field known called the wicket will cause the ball to bounce erratically, creating an unpredictable, challenging surface. The phrases batting on a sticky wicket or playing on a sticky wicket have come to suggest more generally being in an awkward, perplexing situation. Cricket has produced lots of colorful terms, including dibbly-dobbly, silly mid-off, and sledging, the last of these referring to the act of taunting or insulting other players in order to rattle their confidence or concentration. This is part of a complete episode.
When you’re talking about the location of an inanimate object, is it okay to say that it lives there, as in The peanut butter lives in that cabinet or The flashlight lives on that shelf? Strictly speaking, of course, that object isn’t...
Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...
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