Hat Trick

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Dr. Goodword
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Hat Trick

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:18 pm

• hat trick •

Pronunciation: hæt trik • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun phrase

Meaning: 1. Three goals scored by one player in a soccer or hockey match. 2. The retiring of three batsmen with three consecutive balls by a bowler in cricket. 3. More generally, a string of any kind of three consecutive accomplishments.

Notes: Today the US soccer team plays Portugal in the World Cup playoffs, so we offer a relevant Good Word. With all the odd choices, such as pitch, boots, sweeper, and scissors, plus phrases like bulge the onion bag, sick as a parrot, and cheeky backpass, the pickings are grand. We chose hat trick since scoring once in a soccer match is in itself an accomplishment, but scoring three times is very nearly a feat of magic. As we once heard on the BBC: "Alan Shearer's hat trick shattered Germany's resolve! England won the match, 3 to 2!"

In Play: The popularity of soccer (more than cricket) has led to a broader, more general use of this word: "Did you hear? Kenny Pullum scored a hat trick: he closed 3 major sales this week." Why not use it around school? "Roger may not be worth his salt on the soccer field, but he scored a hat trick in school this week; he aced (made As in) three mid-term exams."

Word History: Today's Good Phrase dates back to the game of cricket as played during the Victorian era (1837-1901). A bowler who retired three batsmen in a row was rewarded with a new hat or an equivalent gift for his accomplishment. Once the term was associated with a triple accomplishment, it quickly passed on to other sports: hockey, soccer, even horse-racing, where the Triple Crown in the US is often referred to as a hat trick. May your favorite team produce a hat trick in the playoffs!
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gtvanor
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Re: Hat Trick

Postby gtvanor » Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:32 pm

I was under the impression that a hat was passed around for collect cash for the hat-trick bowler as in those days the "players" were the working class and needed the money and opposed to the "gentlemen", the landed gentry who did not! Possibly your explanation only applied when a "gentleman" obtained the hat-trick!

misterdoe
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Re: Hat Trick

Postby misterdoe » Sun Jun 22, 2014 6:06 pm

I've always associated the term with hockey, and wondered where it came from. Thanks for the clarification.

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Slava
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Re: Hat Trick

Postby Slava » Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:18 pm

Here's a fun expansion on the origin, courtesy of etymonline:
1879, originally from cricket, "taking three wickets on three consecutive deliveries;" extended to other sports c.1909, especially ice hockey ("In an earlier contest we had handed Army a 6-2 defeat at West Point as Billy Sloane performed hockey's spectacular 'hat trick' by scoring three goals" ["Princeton Alumni Weekly," Feb. 10, 1941]). Allegedly because it entitled the bowler to receive a hat from his club commemorating the feat (or entitled him to pass the hat for a cash collection), but also influenced by the image of a conjurer pulling things from his hat (an act attested by 1876). The term was used earlier for a different sort of magic trick:

Place a glass of liquor on the table, put a hat over it, and say, "I will engage to drink every drop of that liquor, and yet I'll not touch the hat." You then get under the table; and after giving three knocks, you make a noise with your mouth, as if you were swallowing the liquor. Then, getting from under the table, say "Now, gentlemen, be pleased to look." Some one, eager to see if you have drunk the liquor, will raise the hat; when you instantly take the glass and swallow the contents, saying, "Gentlemen I have fulfilled my promise: you are all witnesses that I did not touch the hat." ["Wit and Wisdom," London, 1860]
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