July 21, 2004

What are they saying?

I asked Mark, the spinning instructor, how his triathlon training was coming along.

His response: "I was really naught for six at the weekend, if you know what I mean, so I'm going to have to take it easy".

No, in fact, I did not know what he meant. Did he get injured? Drunk? Did he do six events over the weekend and win them all? Or lose them all?

After some inquiries I learned that the expression is actually "knock for six" (I misheard him) and it derives from the game of cricket. If a ball is knocked for six, it is hit a long way and that batsman automatically gets six runs, akin to a home run in baseball.

Another cricket term used in daily language is "hat-trick". When taking three wickets in three successive deliveries a bowler is said to have achieved a hat-trick. One of the harder feats to achieve in the game it used to be the cause for the bowler being given a hat. We hear it now most often by football (soccer) commentators.