All three of my boys play soccer, and a common phrase we hear out on the pitch is “he scored a hat trick!” If you’re not familiar with soccer or cricket, you might not understand why a hat trick causes so much celebration. I’m here to explain.
If you want to learn more about new and unusual words, join the fun with Bermuda Onion’s Wondrous Words Wednesday meme. Visit Bermuda Onion and/or write your own post and link up.
When a player in soccer, or other goal scoring sports, gets three goals in one game, people say he or she has scored a “hat trick”. But since when does “hat” have anything to do with three? Merriam-Webster had the scoop.
Hat Trick:
- the retiring of three batsmen with three consecutive balls by a bowler in cricket
- the scoring of three goals in one game by a single player
- a series of three victories, successes, or related accomplishments
The phrase comes from British cricket. When a player retired three batsmen with three consecutive balls, the club gave him with a new hat to honor his accomplishment. Hence, “hat trick”. The term expanded to include one player scoring three goals in any appropriate sport, and eventually it came to mean three major achievements in any field. It’s now sometimes used in baseball when a batter gets three hits during three turns at bat.
Word Nerd Workout
Can you share another term from sports that has an interesting background? Check out my posts on the meanings of coach and compete. (Originally, “coach” was all about “carriages”!)
Thanks for getting nerdy with me.
Julia
There’s also a “natural” hat trick. 3 goals scored consecutively in a game.
Thanks for adding that!
I knew what a hat trick was but didn’t know its origin. When we were in Bermuda, they tried to teach us about cricket but I never could understand it.
Totally unrelated, but did the time you spent in Bermuda influence the name of your blog?
I can’t think of another sports term, but I like this background piece on hat trick. I had no idea of the origin, but I’m going to pay closer attention in the future.
I just love how gentlemanly cricket is — they don’t strike out a player, but retire him or her.
Would we expect anything less from the British? Thanks for stopping by.
I had a couple of these during my soccer years (2nd grade through part of college), but boy did they feel cool 🙂 Love the photo of your son! Arm-holding’s legal if the ref doesn’t catch it 🙂
I didn’t know you were a soccer girl too! Yay. Another reason to like you!
Oh we love this term in our house! It’s a great honor to get a hat trick. I didn’t know the origin though – thanks!