Boules

SPORTS. Part 3

BOULES

(in full jeu de boules, a collective term for ball games involving metal balls aimed at a smaller target ball)

Bocce - (bocci, boccie) - an Italian variety of lawn bowling played on a dirt court that is shorter and narrower than the rink of a bowling green. Players roll heavy balls across an area of ground and try to get each ball to stop as near as possible to a smaller ball.

Windsports

SPORTS. Part 2

WINDSPORTS

Sailing - the sport or activity of travelling across water in a sailing boat. The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on a painted discfound in Kuwait dating between 5000 and 5500 BC. Although sailing as a means of transportation predates history, sport sailing—or yachting—seems to have originated in the 17th cent. in Holland. From there it was introduced into England (c.1660), and eventually spread to the American colonies. Then, as now, it was common for sport sailors to join together for social and recreational purposes in groups known as yacht clubs.

Foreign Words and Phrases

LATIN

ab initio - from the beginning
ad absurdum - to the point of absurdity

ad hoc - made or done for a particular purpose (literally ‘to this’) 

ad infinitum - endlessly; forever (literally ‘to infinity’) 

ad interim - for the meantime

Air Sports

SPORTS. Part 1

AIR SPORTS

Aerobatics - spectacular stunts, such as rolls and loops, flying upside down or in a circle, performed in an airplane or a glider or by groups of airplanes flying together. The term aerobatics came into use in early 1914 and was originally synonymous with stunt flying.