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When I walk in a westerly direction, and the wind is in my face, it is a westerly wind. When I bowl a good ball in a game of cricket, I may get the ball up in the block hole.
The first is widdershins to me - that means backwards, or more precisely going round something the wrong way. The second was totally obscure until I had the meaning explained to you.
This glossary explains the more unusual terms used in squash and racketball.
| Let | Awarded when there is accidental collision or obstruction with no fault well before a shot. |
| Stroke | Awarded when there is obstruction when a player is addressing or playing the ball. |
| Service line | The red line across the front wall half way up. In squash, a serve must be above this line. |
| Short line | The line that goes from side to side half way up the court. This forms part of the service boxes, and a serve must land behind this line. |
| Tin | The red wooden batten a foot and a half from the ground on the front wall, together with the metal covering below. This area is out of court. The exact height is subject to current discussio, but 19" to the top of the wood is a good start. |
| Counter drop | When you return opponent's drop shot with your own drop shot. |
| Rail | A ball hit parallel and close to the wall. |
| Volley | A shot that takes the ball before it has bounced once, and before it has hit the back wall. |
| Boast | You a quite close to the side wall when you take the ball, and you hit it into the wall so it rebounds cross court. I believe that the word comes from a tool used in plastering walls - the racket motion for a boast can be compared to smoothing plaster. |
| Hand-out | This is what the marker says when the receiver has won a rally and takes the next service. Hand-in is sometimes used to refer to the player about to serve. |
| Trickle boast | This is a boast played from the front corner - delay your racket from a drive down the wall and let the ball hit the side wall near you, so that it reaches the front wall low over the tin near the middle, and dies dropping in the opposite corner. Deception is needed to keep opponent to the back of the court. |
Copyright (C) Richard Hart 2015 - 2018