In Cantabrigian tradition, a wooden spoon was jokingly awarded to low achievers in mathematics. That practice later extended to other types of competitions. It’s also key to a heartwarming story about a charitable organization that arose from...
In rugby and soccer to kick into touch means to “kick a ball out of play.” The phrase by extension is used in British English mean to “take some kind of action so that a decision is postponed” or otherwise get rid of a...
Have you ever eaten a Benedictine sandwich? Or savored a juicy pork steak? What’s a favorite dish you grew up with that may be mystifying to someone from another part of the country? Also, what does it mean to tell someone to “put a snap...
Tim in Indianapolis, a rugby referee, asks whether American football’s touchdown comes from rugby. Rugby does appear to be the source. The Oxford English Dictionary has an 1864 rugby example that predates American football, depending on how one...
after n.— «This physical contest led to a considerable amount of “afters,” as rugby players like to call the little bits of niggle which sometimes follow action at the contact area. There was certainly some physical stuff...
banana skin n.— «Italy are a good side—they won two games in the Six Nations and pushed Ireland in the warm-ups and most of them have beaten Scotland before. This, therefore, is not a “banana skin”; it’s what the French call a...