A crackerjack fellow is someone who’s excellent or first-rate. It’s most likely the same positive sense of crack found in terms like cracking good, crack team, and crack shot. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
The bunt, that deliberately short hit in baseball, was long interchangeable with butt, as in two rams butting heads. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Baseball Bunt” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello, this is Jeff...
Baseball fans know the eeuphus pitch-that arcing lob made famous by Rip Sewell in the 1946 All-Star Game. Before that, the word eephus referred to insider information. Jim Strain in La Mesa, California, even uses it as a verb, as in, “That...
The term daisy-cutting, which refers to the low-action trot of Arabian and Thoroughbred horses, is reminiscent of the low grounder in baseball known as a daisy cutter and even the daisy cutter explosive, which shoots low-flying shrapnel. This is...
An 1907 essay on baseball slang supplies a mini-quiz built from extravagant, watery nicknames for a particular baseball pitch. Clues include damp fling, diluted dip, aqueous slant, wet wipe, and perspiration pellet, with more soggy variants such as...
A San Diego listener of Mexican descent says a scene in a Quentin Tarantino film has her wondering about the term Mexican standoff. Is it just a duel? A three-way duel, complete with guns? The end of a 1-1 doubleheader in baseball? Over time...