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两分钱系列之 Idioms, words and catch phrases (II, III)

2. Sports

Canadians and Americans love sports very much. Many words originated from sports. Here are some examples originated from baseball game.

“Ballpark”. A ballpark is where baseball is played. People gather together to watch the game. You can imagine people talk to each other casually, not seriously. Therefore, a “ballpark figure” is just a rough figure, an approximate figure.

“Hard ball”. A hard ball is difficult to catch. When you are being tough to another person, giving that person a hard time, you are playing hard ball.

“Sales pitch”. Compelling persuasions to make the sale.

3. Obscenities

One rolian asked how “it sucks” came into place. It was considered obscenity by some people.

You don’t have to speak dirty languages, but you need to be able to understand them. It is not appropriate to list many examples here. Mild obscene words, such as “suck”, “Gee”, “Holy cow” and “darn”, etc., have become acceptable now.
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Replies, comments and Discussions:

  • 工作学习 / English / 两分钱系列之 Idioms, words and catch phrases (II, III)
    • There are a lot of baseball terms being used in spoken English that I find it difficult to understand.
    • could you give out an example of 'sales pitch'?thanks
      • Sure. 1. Have you heard the new sales pitch that marketing department developed? I'll bet it DOES work! 2. Although the sales guy pitched really hard, he didn't cut a deal.
    • 请问:real life sucks.解释:生活很艰难,是吗?谢谢!!
      • 要是sucks的话一般生活不是每个方面都春风得意,不一定要艰难, 更不"很"了