Posted by Jeremy Kriewaldt on January 01, 2006 at 21:51:30 from 147.10.214.189 user JeremyKriewaldt.
In Reply to: sledging at cricket posted by John Nichols on January 01, 2006 at 20:43:41:
Let us say I am a bowler in cricket, being the person who chucks the balls.
Surely not chucking, John. As a good Aussie, you know that "chucking" (ie not keeping your arm straight (or bent at a constant angle)during the bowling delivery) is the most heinous of offences. What expression should we use when describing the bowler to someone from the US? The player who delivers the ball to the batter (to allow for a female at the other end of the pitch), using an overarm bowling (but not throwing)action? I would just use the closest equivalent and say the player who pitches the ball - leaving the issue of whether it is a bowling action or a throwing action for the next question.
This is a real issue of translation - and one which I have had to face when trying to explain cricket to my cousins from the USA (the problem of being an Aussie whose grandfather was a Yank and who still has cousins in Wisconsin - including one who is a linebacker for the Pittsburg Steelers!)