Yes it is Friday again and it means it is time for the "Did You Know Post" and to fill your head with useless facts. I know you all hate to admit it but you really look forward to this post. This week we are looking at sports related sayings and where they came from. It will be interesting to know how many you knew already.
Bowl a maiden over.
To sweep a lady off her feet in a romantic sort of way.
Obviously for those that play cricket you know the answer already. In the game of cricket a bowler bowls 6 balls at a batsmen completing one over. Once completed if the batsmen never scored any runs it is called a maiden. Nothing to this one really and somehow made it's way from cricket into romantic circles.
The Grand Slam.
A clean sweep winning everything that is on offer. Used mainly in sporting terms these days and something tennis players try and achieve winning all the major tournaments of the year.
The term comes from the game Bridge. In 1814 Hoyles explained what a grand Slam was. 6 tricks in a row is called a Boston and 13 is called a Grand slam. Donald Budge won the 4 major tennis evens in 1938 and was called the Grand Slam. In those days it was the Australian, British (Wimbledon), French and US Open that made the Grand Slam. It is not just tennis though that uses this term but base ball, golf and rugby. In rugby winning the Six Nations without losing a game is known as the Grand Slam and is fairly common and not as rare as the feat is of achieving it in an individual sport.
Middle for diddle.
Normally is a saying for someone closest to something to start first. Not that common in my neck of the woods and have heard of this before but not that often.
Came about from people playing darts. Middle for diddle to start means the person closest to the bulls eye throwing one dart will start the game. The middle is obvious but the diddle is not really as it has multiple meanings from wasting time to having sex to cheating and having Gin. Knowing the English and pubs it would most likely be having sex as I suppose that is winning. Just a saying though so it could literally be anything if guys have been drinking.
Under wraps
Hidden from public view. Something kept quiet and is like a secret.
This is my favorite of the week as I had literally no idea on this one. Comes from Horse Racing of all things where a jockey wraps the reins around his hands to show down a horse in order to not tire it or to not reveal it's true racing ability. A bit of sneakiness and not surprising with all the money that is bet on the races. In 1893 a newspaper mentioned how a horse was under wraps only to suddenly come to life and win the race. I wouldn't say this is underhand ,but more gamesmanship as why show your hand as this is good strategy.
