AA:I'mAviArdittiwithRosanneSkirble, andthisweekonWORDMASTER: withMajorLeagueBaseball'schampionshipseriesdelayedbyrain-- noWorldSeriesgamehaseverbeensuspendedbefore-- wethoughtwe'dstepuptotheplateandrepriseasegmentfromseveralyearsago. WeinterviewedalinguistatBerkeleyaboutthemanybaseball-inspiredtermsinAmericanEnglish.

RS:Butfirst, incaseyou'rekeepingscore, thePhiladelphiaPhilliesleadthreegamestooneintheirbest-of-sevenseriesagainsttheTampaBayRays. GamefiveisscheduledtoresumeWednesdaynight.

AA:Baseballstartedintheeighteenhundreds, andMaggieSokoliksayswritersmadeupcolorfulwaystodescribethegame. Afterall, inthosedays, therewasnotelevisiontowatchthenationalpastime.

RS:AlotofthosephraseshitahomerunwithAmericans, sotodayevenpeoplewhodon'tfollowbaseballmightstilltalkaboutdoingsomething"rightoffthebat."

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"Andifyoucanimagineabaseballstrikingthebat, thatinstantthatthingshappen, thingsgoveryquickly, soifyouneedtodosomethingfast, youmightwanttodoitrightoffthebat. Similarlynowifyouhavealargeplan, sayinbusiness, inwhichyouneedtoaccomplishseveraltasks, youmighttellyourcolleaguesthatyou've'touchedallthebases,'you'vecontactedpeople-- you've'coveredyourbases'aswell, thatis, you'vepreparedadequately."

RS:Whichmeansthatyou'veprobablygonebeyondroughestimates, or"ballparkfigures."

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"Oftenifwe'retalking, andperhapswe'renegotiating, perhapswemightsay, 'youknow, we'renoteveninthesameballpark,'meaningmyfiguresaresodifferentfromyoursthatwe'renotevencommunicatingaboutthem."

AA:"Whyaballpark?"

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"Well, wehavethisnotionofaballparkasbeingasortofrougharea. Theplayingfielddoesn'treallyhaveadefiniteboundary. Thediamonditselfdoes, butwhatextendsbeyondthediamonddoesn'thaveaspecificdimensionassignedtoit. Similarlywithtime, aninningcanbefiveminutes, aninningcouldbefiftyminutes, itjustdependsonhowlongittakestogetalltheoutsin."

AA:"Andit'sstillifyougetthreestrikesyou'reout."

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"Exactly."

AA:"Andit'snotjustinbaseballanymore. Wehearthatnowinlaws. IknowinCalifornia, ifyoucommitthreeseriouscrimes..."

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"Yes, threefeloniesandthenIthinkit'salifetimesentenceafterthat. It'scallthe'three-strikelaw,'threestrikesandyou'reinprison. Ithinkalesshappybaseballmetaphorthanmostofthemare."

RS:"Doyouhaveafavoritebaseballexpression?"

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"IthinktheonesthatIlike, there'salotofbaseballexpressionsthatreallyfocusonpeoplemakingmistakes, becauseerrorsinbaseballaresortofwhatmakethegameinterestingandexcitingandalsomakeusscreamandtearourhairoutinthestands. Sowhenyoutalkaboutpeoplebeing'offbase'-- or'wayoffbase'infact-- thatmeansthatthey'rereallyquitewrong. There'salsotheterm, tocallsomeonea'screwball'whichisatypeofpitch, butalsomeansthatsomeoneissortofcrazyandnotthinkingstraight. Ifwetalkaboutsomeonewho'sreallycapable, wetalkaboutthembeing'ontheball.'"

RS:"Doyouseethatourbaseballvocabularyisevolving, especiallysinceweareattractingathletesfromoutsidetheUnitedStates, fromCentralandSouthAmerica, fromJapan. DoyoufindthatwiththeseplayerscomingtotheUnitedStates, thatthey'realsobringinganewvocabularyintobaseball?"

MAGGIESOKOLIK:"Well, interestinglyenough, notalot, becausetheansweristhatAmericanbaseballvocabularyhasbeguntotraveloverseas, sothelanguagetheybringwiththemisthatwhichwasexportedtobeginwith."

AA:Asfarascreatingnewterms, MaggieSokolikattheUniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeleysaysAmericanbaseballisinaslump. Stilltherearemorebaseball-relatedphrasesouttherethanmostpeoplerealize.

RS:Infact, UniversityofMissouriProfessorGeraldCohentellsustheearliestcitationsfor"jazz" hadnothingtodowithmusic. SanFrancisconewspaperwriter"Scoop" Gleesonusedtheterm"jazz" innineteen-thirteentodescribeenthusiasmandspiritonthebaseballfield.

AA:Andthat'sWordmasterforthisweek. Oure-mailaddressisword@voanews.com. Andyoucanfindallofourprogramsatvoanews.com/wordmaster. WithAviArditti, I'mRosanneSkirble.