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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

spinner? spiral?

Hi,

Imagine you kick a ball (in soccer, or serve a ball in volleyball, etc.) so it starts rotating in a very complicated way, which makes its trajectory totally unpredictable, which in turn makes it very difficult for the goaltender to catch the ball.

What is the right term for such a kick (serve)?

mus-te
  

Top answer

It's called "Curling shot" .

— MIG

  • It's called "Curling shot" .
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6 Answers
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It's called "Curling shot".
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Thank you!

I'd like to ask a few follow-up questions if I may.

(1) Looks like the term "curling shot" is
- common in BE only?
- only applicable to soccer?

When I checked COCA for "curling shot", no hits were found!
When I did GLOWBE, I got the following hit list:
US - none; Canada - three, GB - 40(!)

(2) Is the word combination "curling se
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For tennis, I think it's called "slice serve" or "curve shot". For Volleyball, there is, "Top spin" but I think it's not what you are looking for. I am not an expert
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When I used to play ping-pong with my Dad, he referred to that as "putting English on the ball."
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khoffhe referred to that as "putting English on the ball."
Very curious :-) thank you! ... but unfortunately its etymology is absolutely obscure to me... looks like I'll have to check the internet for this expression...
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khoffputting English on the ball
Yup. I've heard this too. No idea of the origin.

CJ
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