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| First mention of 'The nutmeg' | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 30 Mar 2016, 09:45 PM (219 Views) | |
| daib0 | 30 Mar 2016, 09:45 PM Post #1 |
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Inter-Forum Gamemaster!
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Nutmegged From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The verb 'nutmegged' arose in 1870's Victorian era slang. It came to be known as someone who was tricked or deceived especially in a manner that made them look foolish. The word arose because of a practice commonly used during nutmeg shipments between America and Britain. Nutmegs were a valuable commodity and exporters would regularly place wooden replicas in the ships to England to make up the weight. To be 'nutmegged' implied stupidity on the part of the receiver. Nowadays the term is widely used in footballing soccer circles and the term is used when one player places the ball through the open legs of an opposition player and collects the ball on the other side. Just as in 1870's slang, the player who has been nutmegged will have to cope with much derision from both his fellow players and those watching the game on the sidelines. Nutmegged found its way into footballing circles in the 1940's. The term is Cockey Rhyming Slang for 'legs'. That coupled with the original meaning came to be known as the term we know today. The action of being nutmegged is the most embarrassing thing that can befall a professional footballer, especially at a football ground which is not his or her regular home venue. The term nutmegged has embedded itself into football culture all across the United Kingdom with the cult TV show 'Soccer AM' dedicating a weekly slot to the event each week. The show has also asked many professional footballers whether they are "Nuts or Megs?" The protocol after performing a nutmeg is to shout either one or the other to increase the embarrassment factor of the player you have just humiliated. Football supporters have also taken the name to heart and many websites can be found with nutmegs or nutmegged being a key ingredient to the content including the popular messageboard of the same name Origin of the term The origins of the word are a point of debate. An early use is in the novel A bad lot by Brian Glanville (1977). According to Alex Leith's book Over the Moon, Brian - The Language of Football, "nuts refers to the testicles of the player through whose legs the ball has been passed and nutmeg is just a development from this". The use of the word nutmeg to mean leg in Cockney rhyming slang has also been put forward as an explanation. Another theory was postulated by Peter Seddon in his book Football Talk - The Language And Folklore Of The World's Greatest Game. The word arose because of a sharp practice used in nutmeg exports between America and England. "Nutmegs were such a valuable commodity that unscrupulous exporters were to pull a fast one by mixing a helping of wooden replicas into the sacks being shipped to England," writes Seddon. "Being nutmegged soon came to imply stupidity on the part of the duped victim and cleverness on the part of the trickster." It soon caught on in football, implying that the player whose legs the ball had been played through had been tricked, or, nutmegged. A similar term, "5-hole," is used in ice hockey when the puck goes between the goalie's legs into the goal. Who likes the term? Commentators and even footy opponents call it a nutmeg whenever the ball goes through someone's legs (deliberately)... that is NOT a proper nutmeg. A proper nutmeg is when your opponent has the ball and you're facing him, in opposition to him. He then taps it through your legs and collects it behind you. the French call it "le petit pont", or "little bridge" which I think is great |
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| Bahamoth | 31 Mar 2016, 07:17 AM Post #2 |
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This is all well and good, but, it begs the questions... Nuts or Megs?! I say 'nuts'. I don't like the way 'megs' sounds, for some reason. |
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8:40 AM Jul 11