The slang term kittenball is used in parts of the American Midwest for the sport of softball. According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, a fire company Minneapolis, Minnesota, first applied the term kittenball to softball, and called its first team the Kittens. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Kittenball”
Here’s another cat word from the Dictionary of American Regional English, kitten ball.
It’s all one word, kitten ball.
Okay, so it’s an ordinary phrase, but because you’re presenting it this way, it must mean something not ordinary.
Yeah.
Plant related?
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
I have no idea.
It’s an early name for softball.
Softball.
Yeah. According to Paul Dixon’s Baseball Dictionary, it was introduced in Minneapolis by a fire company as a form of exercise.
And the first team took the name kittens as their nickname.
Oh, okay.
And set up a little diamond next to the station.
So it’s kind of an informal term for softball and heard in places like Minnesota and Iowa.
Kitten ball.
Kitten ball.
As opposed to maybe hard ball, so it’s suggesting the softness of the sports versus the…
Yeah.
Okay.
Go kittens.
Go kittens.
