Why is football so full of clichés?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of football clichés.

Firstly, there are the hypertruths -

phrases that are so obvious that they're not even worth repeating.

or...

These hypertruths have persisted

because they are comforting, reliable filler.

The footballing equivalent of say,

talking about the weather with your in-laws.

Then there is the received wisdom -

football phrases that have become accepted as true

despite having almost no basis in logic.

When a fan repeats such myths as, "Some people say..."

or that...

it taps into their most primal fear -

that their team will suddenly and spectacularly let them down.

Paranoia and pessimism are, after all,

central to the enjoyment of football.

For all that the English language of football has evolved

into something rather ornate over the last 150 years,

other countries have embraced their more poetic side.

What we might describe as...

that is the extreme top corner of the goal,

the Brazilians might call 'onde a dorme coruja', literally -

where the owl sleeps.

While English has countless ways

to describe the fundamental act of scoring a goal,

none are quite as evocative as the French -

'faire trembler les filets' -

make the nets quiver.

Suddenly...

doesn't quite sound so impressive.

Football commentary is awash with bizarre words and phrases

borrowed from other walks of life, often from decades ago.

When else in their day to day life

would the average football fan use the words...

...that is a goal scored tidily but with a flourish.

Or...

...once used for 18th century pirates

but now for a defender who has a habit of suddenly bursting upfield

to join the attack.

The development of the football lexicon

has largely been a one-way street

but it has given the occasional word or phrase back

to the wider English language.

…some claim originates from the BBC's radio coverage in the 1920s,

when a commentator would refer to a grid system,

printed in the Radio Times,

to indicate where the ball was on the pitch at that moment.

Despite the negative connotation,

clichés do have a useful function.

They exist to fill gaps, to lubricate debate

and to act as a conversational leveller between a novice

...and an expert.

So with the saturation of football coverage

spare a thought for the much maligned cliché

because...

where would we be without them?

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