20 Examples of Sports Slang


With the name of jargon the linguistic variety belonging to a language is known, but which is known and used in a restricted way by those who belong to a certain social group.

While many vocabulary words all people are used in a generalized way, some have the exclusion for those who are in contact with certain activities, or for those who come from some social origin.

Sports slang

The sports slang They are the different concepts that have a particular meaning in the field of a sport, while outside of it they will have a completely different meaning or they will not mean anything. For example: goal, hazard, spin, crawl.

Sports often have a regulation in which different circumstances of the game are named: as most sports come from Anglo-Saxon countries, their vocabulary has a direct origin from the English language, and in Spanish what they tend to do is to include Anglicisms, giving it an entity of its own.

This class of words belongs to the sports jargon strictly, and they are related to the exercise of the sport itself: outside of it, almost all the words of this group completely meaningless. These words, moreover, are usually the same for all languages ​​that have to be related to sport, which makes it possible to export and understand what is strictly sporting in a global way.

Examples of sports jargon

The following list gives some sports slang words, strictly related to sports:

  1. Goal. Annotation in soccer.
  2. Short corner. Special type of corner kick in hockey.
  3. Pentathlon. Set of five athletic events.
  4. Hazard. Obstacle in golf.
  5. Manager. Representative of an athlete.
  6. Swing. Side punch in boxing.
  7. Jumping. Show jumping competition, in equestrian.
  8. Corner. Corner kick in football.
  9. Tie-breaker. Decisive game in tennis or volleyball.
  10. Spin. Turn on snowboard.
  11. Dan. Master category in martial arts.
  12. Net. Ball hit in the net, in tennis.
  13. Crawl. Swimming freestyle.
  14. Knock down. Knock out the opponent by throwing to the ground in boxing.
  15. Uppercut. Hook to the chin, in boxing.
  16. Reverse. Way of hitting the ball in tennis.
  17. Punch. Stuck in boxing
  18. Marathon. Endurance race of 42,195 kilometers.
  19. Lob. Pumped pass in basketball.
  20. Triple. Basket worth three points in basketball

However, there are other kinds of words belonging to sports jargon, related at a lesser level to sports and more to the analysis, interpretation and commentary derived from that sport. Is that, the most popular sports in various parts of the world invite the comment, and the media spend a great deal of time analyzing the sporting events that are taking place.

In this frame, have created a number of other terms for some sports. Particular circumstances of the game, ways of practicing it or particular evaluations bear a name that designates them, in many cases different depending on the country.

Are categories They are more or less widespread according to the fame and popularity of the sport, and it can be said that while the jargon of analysis and commentary of football is widely reproduced and replicated, that of ornamental jumps or that of the artistic skate practically does not exist, or it is restricted to a small group of people.

It is common for this class of sports jargon elements to be used concepts derived from everyday life, unlike the previous group where the words have their first meaning in sport.

As an example, some of these concepts are listed for the Latin American area, most associated with soccer:

  1. Sudden death. Definition of tiebreaker where each game is decisive.
  2. A Clockwork Orange. Famous football team of the Netherlands in the 1970s.
  3. Beast. A very good player.
  4. Electrifying match. Match with a lot of rhythm.
  5. With clenched teeth. Very aggressive gameplay.
  6. Maradonian move. Play in which a single player dodges many of the rivals.
  7. Or Rei. Reference to Pelé, Brazilian soccer player.
  8. Break lines. Generate a situation that breaks the rival defensive structure.
  9. Goal situation. Approach of a team to the opposing goal.
  10. Kill yourself on the court. Give your all to play at your best.