Southpaws & Sunday Punches and Other Sporting Expressions

Approximately 600 words and phrases from the world of athletics that have made their way into common speech, including the history of many of these terms.

Some 600 words and phrases from the world of sports that are now part of the vernacular. Terms from baseball, boxing, football, basketball, hockey, cricket and rugby pepper the English language, whether the subject is war (a maneuver in the Gulf War was called a "hail Mary play") to love (she's on the rebound). Baseball has given us southpaw, go to bat, coming out of left field, playing hardball. Boxers had to go the distance unless they were saved by the bell. And kingpins were the prime targets for bowlers. This Hall of Fame collection gives sports lovers a ringside seat on the inside track. Only an oddball who doesn't know the score would stay on the sidelines or take a rain check.

Christine Ammer has written dozens of word books on subjects ranging from sports to colors to food terms to words from war. Her output includes the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms and Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches. She also writes a column on words from warfare for Military History Quarterly.