Oche

[Audiendus]

Oche (noun) - pronounced "ocky"

[British, late 20th century. Term used in the game of darts.]

A line on the floor, behind which a player must stand when throwing.

(Possibly from Old French ocher, to cut a notch in.)

[Slava]

More on the mysterious etymology:

http://www.patrickchaplin.com/Oche.htm

This reminds me of an irregular Latin verb:

spito, spitere, hocktui, splatum.

[MTC]

It sounds to me that "oche" (an anagram of echo) is more suited to hockey than darts. At least there would be more rhyme and reason.

All the sports and games have their line nomenclature: line of scrimmage and goal line (football); service line (tennis); foul line (basketball); touch line (rugby); baulk line (pool,) etc. Don't ask me where this observation leads, however. Probably straight off the page...

And on a related matter, "line" is an anagram of "Nile."