Frontside grab … truck driver … frontside rodeo … cab double underflip … quad cork 1800 … half cab quadruple backflip … backside triple cork 1620 …
Snowboarding tricks, many of them being done today during the 2017 X-Games in Aspen, Colo. Amazing to watch even when you don’t understand a word of the jargon. It makes you realize how far from your youth you’ve come, how wide the gap has grown. Yes, they do seem to be speaking English most of the time, but it’s certainly not a vocabulary I learned.
So I just marvel at the tricks and chuckle at the jargon. When the kids (they’re all kids to me) are doing stuff that’s never been done before, in a sport that didn’t exist when I was their age, they have to invent a new language to describe it. Logical. But I’m still cringing after this exchange during one young woman’s run (snowboard slopestyle event):
Commentator #1: She’s on fire. Literally.
Commentator #2: Literally.
Commentator #1: Literally.
The first time was bad enough. But three times in a row!? Ugh! I don’t care if dictionaries are starting to accept this misuse of the word … not because it’s now correct but because the majority of the population persists in using it incorrectly. In this context, it’s wrong.
Well, call me a pedantic old woman but I’m not ready to throw in the towel. The two announcers should have settled for the metaphor “She’s on fire.” Period. But they didn’t, and I wanted to run in and smack them with a fire extinguisher. Literally.
Why didn’t they call the fire brigade to put the poor woman out?
Beats me. But it’s too late now.
nice
Thanks for stopping by.
What did they say about the X-games with snow mobiles attempting to do the same tricks as these snow boarders? Zoomers?
No. Not a joke. (Most of the participants were from Alaska)
I didn’t watch the snowmobile competition, but I think those guys are nuts. Missing a trick is one thing. Missing it and having a 500-lb machine fall on you is something else.
If that would happen what would the announcers with the limited vocabulary manage to say about it? “Whoa”?
There are a lot of glossaries online. I’m sure they have some special word(s) for a crash so bad it nearly kills somebody (and actually did at least once).
Please let it not be “bummer”
Hate to think how likely that might be, now that you mention it.