-fer a suffix to any number, meaning the number of wickets taken by a team or bowler. (See also fifer/five-fer) Wikipedia I assume that ‘fer’ means, or is derived from, ‘for’ with the usually following number omitted. As you would say ‘5 for 46’ (in cricket; meaning 5 wickets for 46 runs against you; so … Read more
In France, and probably in some other countries, university players of team sports are generally divided into tiered teams, with the strongest players going to the strongest team (“team one”), and progressively weaker players in subsequent teams. For context, the strongest team will generally play in national college competitions, while others may play in smaller … Read more
It’s definitely more than one athlete in the Russian team. On TV: On the web And they did it all the time till the finals: Clearly, it wasn’t an arbitrary error or slip-up. Answer Olympic Athlete from Russia is the offical English name of the team, although it is widely misrepresented as Olympic Athletes from … Read more
This is the sentence I have problems with: It was the second straight overtime game for Tulsa, which fell to Washington on Monday. source:link to article Obviously it’s a sports report about WNBA. What does fall to mean here? Is it a technical term specific to sports? Answer It is an extension of the usage … Read more
My students keep writing “I play kendo”, “He plays diving”, “they play ballet”, etc. I’ve been correcting them to use “do”/”does”, but are there other better verbs? I’ve considered using “practice” and “compete in”, but each tends to exclude the other. Answer Well while there are other words you could use ‘I practice Kendo’, ‘I … Read more
If you were to anticipate something, perhaps an opponents serve in a racket sport like tennis, what would you call such anticipation? It’s an interception of course, but what else can it be called? Answer How about get the jump on? Cambridge: get the jump on: to start doing something before other people start, or … Read more
I can see that the Cambridge Dictionary is at least aware of the use of tackle meaning "come to grips with a problem" and I can see that the Sunday Times has used it on occasion. It still seems so connected to (American) football that it shouldn’t be the most idiomatic way for a Brit … Read more
Here is an interview with a Utah Jazz basketball player after the game: Donovan Mitchell acknowledged it was hard trying not to go all-out early on: "I had a moment before the game, I was talking to myself, trying to calm myself. … It’s easy to go out there and try to hit a home … Read more
Can anyone tell me what is the name of the following exercise? Lie straight (first image) Touch your feet (second image). Answer It seems to be called (body) roll-up on several places, giving only a couple: http://greatist.com/move/best-exercises-lower-abs http://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/lower-abdominal-exercises/move-roll-up However, it is not listed yet on the wikipedia roll-up disambiguation page. AttributionSource : Link , Question … Read more
I found this sentence in a novel set in Cornwall. The complete sentence is: Daddy is very proud that you have made the school first XI rugger team. The boy in the team il 16 y.o. and he lives in the Thirties of the Twentieth century. Can you help me understand the meaning of this … Read more
