Every sport has a language, cue sport is no different. Whether you play billiard, pool or snooker there may have been instances when you spoke in a tongue that zapped your non player buddy. If you are the one who used it, read on to refresh your memory! If you are the zapped buddy, let us help you with some commonly used phrases, slang and one liners used while playing pool especially in Florida.
If you happened to pass by mysteriously huddled up people talking about action being round the clock at the pool room and wondered what action this really could be? Well, they had been referring to gambling! Pool games are the ones where people frequently put their bets on a player and winning and loosing money alludes to this action. Another way of talking above gambling could be ‘sweating the action’. ‘Sweating the action’ broadly refers to betting on the game. So the next time you over hear someone say “People were sweating the action all over the room, you know what they mean.
Another commonly used word that goes around pool halls is speed. People may compare two player’s speed or say that a player has top speed. By speed they do not mean the players being fast or slow. What speed actually means is how well a player plays the game. ‘Top speed’, therefore, refers to the best a player can play. Next on the list is what they call (to) shark. Used majorly as the shark’s meal, this phrase is used to mean distract someone who is in the act of shooting. Up next we have something called as the nut or ‘the stone cold n*ts’ or the ‘Brazilians’. The player who has the n*ts or any of the previously mentioned things is usually heavily favored to win. They all mean that his winning is a sure thing. ‘The t*t’ is another frequently used phrase between the matches. The ball ran straight into the t*ts is a phrase that refers to the ball hitting the corner of the side pocket. To mean that a player is deliberately playing below ones speed/ability players use an expression called ‘to lemonade’ or go ‘lemon’.
Since cue sports are loved globally, there are other slang and phrases that people from different regions use. The English, for instance are known to play on the word b*lls quite a lot. Some common phrases related to billiards are; b*lls to the wall, b*lls up, behind the eight b*lls, by the b*lls, bust the b*lls and the like.
Cue Sport phrases also vary the way the game progresses. There are different ways to address strokes during the game and while a player is winning or losing. The next time you drop by at a pool hall in Florida, make sure you use the lingo or at least some of the words above and play it cool!
