For a fortnight we were on top of the world, a nation raised to the level of the gods as the Olympians came to our shores. This morning we came crashing back down to earth. We've gone cold turkey. We need just a little more Olympics, this is all too sudden. Couldn't they just have had a couple of events on today....just one or two...Maybe a bronze medal fight in the Taekwondo, or a replay of the women's shot put since the winner was doping.
But let's face it, we're all guilty of doping. We've taken a massive hit of class-A sport and now we're paying the price. It's all I can do to admit that life must go on and today's blog is only therapeutic. I'm just going to look up the etymology of the first words that pop into my head....
Repechage: a heat of a competition (preferably Olympic) in which contestants have another chance to qualify for the next round. It comes from the French repêchage, literally 'fishing out again'.
Keirin: A Japanese word that means racing/competing wheels. As in, 'No use keirin over spilt Olympics.'
Ippon: literally meaning 'one full point' in Japanese, this is the highest score that can be gained from a single move in Judo. A waza-ari, worth half an ippon, translates as half a full point. 'I waza happy man, once ippon a world-record time.'
Dressage: From the French for to prepare. This word will hopefully be obsolete by 2016 with jousting taking its place in the national discourse.
Mo-bot: Forged in a mo-ment of pure ecstasy, this ridiculous neologism might be all that's left of the games very soon. I intend to do this at all moments of intense pleasure from now on. Other words are lining up to get the Mo treatment: Mo-torious, Mo-nation, hedge-Mo, Mo-mance falling in love with Mo Farah, and the "place-Mo effect", when you watch someone you have been told is Mo Farah win a race and feel immediate euphoria.
Cold turkey: this, originally American, piece of slang comes from cold turkey being a meal that takes no time to prepare. After binging on Olympic-flame-grilled sport-steaks for a fortnight, it is hard to swallow cold turkey the next day.
Thanks for the example sentences demonstrating the Japanese words: they were very enlightening (or at least, very amusing)! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm with you on the jousting. Sounds much more fun.
Thanks blogger friend! I'll have to do something about this jousting then as 100% of my readership are in favour. Might start epetition or failing that work on a post dedicated to jousting.
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