yips
n.— «After winning his first game against the Mariners on June 23, pitching six encouraging innings, Bierbrodt’s control looked lost again. In 1 2/3 innings Monday, he walked five batters. Once more, some misses could be measured in feet. In baseball, such misfiring is referred to as “yips.” They cost one-time Pittsburgh star Steve Blass his career. Most recently, St. Louis pitcher Rick Ankiel was afflicted with the yips in 2000.» —“Rangers’ Bierbrodt tries to put shooting behind him” by Barry Horn Dallas Morning News July 3, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode the rails in his youth shares the slang he...