New word of the month
by Kerry Maxwell

galactico noun [C] /glæktk/
a world-famous, highly-paid soccer player

'Germany skipper Michael Ballack was today unveiled as the latest Chelsea galactico as the Premiership champions underlined their intention to retain the title for a third time next season.'
(The Mirror, 15th May 2006)

It's the 2006 World Cup, and football managers across the nations will be relying on their carefully chosen galacticos to help them secure the right results throughout the competition.

Regularly popping up in the vocabulary of soccer commentary during recent years, galactico is based on the Spanish word galáctico meaning 'superstar'. It was first used to describe world-famous soccer players recruited by the Spanish club Real Madrid, including Brazil's Ronaldo in 2002, and England's very own David Beckham in 2003. More recently however it has been used to describe any world-class player strategically purchased for a particular team, as illustrated in the citation above. In 2005 it gained more formal recognition as an English word, when dictionary publisher Collins announced it was to be added to the latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary. Galactico can sometimes have slightly negative overtones, often conveying the idea that a player is famous but overrated. It therefore has some potential for application outside the scope of football in describing someone who has a good reputation but doesn't live up to expectations, e.g.: The new director is a bit of a galactico, although there is so far very limited evidence for this kind of use.

The preoccupations of football managers appear to have had a surprising impact on the English lexicon during recent years. Also making it into print in 2005 was the new noun bouncebackability, allegedly coined by former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie. Initially used in relation to football teams struggling with their performance, bouncebackability has been adopted into general use in English as a useful new derivative of the phrasal verb bounce back, meaning 'the ability to be successful again after a period of failure', e.g.:

'We have been beaten, but we will never be defeated ... I for one, am looking forward to next season as we will prove that we have bouncebackability.'
(The Holmesdale Online, 19th May 2005)

'There is little you can do but marvel when you watch Paula Radcliffe run. At her bouncebackability, her tunnel vision, her ferociousness and her sweetness.'
(The Guardian, 22nd August 2005)

Dowie is not the only football manager capable of coinages. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also recently put an entry into the dictionary when he talked about squeaky bum time, defined as 'the tense, final stages of a league competition, especially from the point of view of the leaders'. Although this fun expression is mainly used in relation to football, it has also begun to cross over into other, non-sporting domains, e.g.:

'Squeaky Bum Time: It looks like the turnout for today's General Election is going to be up on the last one. We suspect that interest has been piqued by the erratic polls that suggest this might be a close one where votes matter more.'
(Londonist, 5th May 2005)

The football moguls have even been instrumental in coining a new phrasal verb in English, to tap up, which means 'to attempt to recruit a player while he is still bound by a contract to another team'. This turn of phrase, frequently occurring in passive form (i.e.: … he was tapped up by …) and also often as a noun tapping up, hit the spotlight in 2005 when player Ashley Cole allegedly made contact with Chelsea about a possible move, without the knowledge or consent of Arsenal, the rival London club he was playing for. It has subsequently gained general currency in football commentary and sports journalism generally, e.g.:

'Such was the eagerness of Sanath Jayasuriya to make a Test comeback that he even tapped up the Sri Lankan president.'
(The Cricket Column, TMC.net, 18th May 2006)

'It was a double celebration for Llewellyn who also rode the horse to victory. But he revealed that was purely by chance having tapped up jockeys Noel Fehily and Paul Moloney for the mount.'
(Shropshire Star, 25th April 2006)

It just wouldn't be a World Cup match without the melodic background noise of supporters chanting the names of their teams. For the English, the chant culture of the terraces has even resulted in a re-working of their country's name – that place at one end of the Channel tunnel is not England, but In-ger-LAND (/glnd/). This was the fans' response to the lack of a melodic third syllable in the word England
(/glnd/), which was first aired in the 1990 World Cup and featured that year in the official England team song. Journalists subsequently gave the chant its very own orthography, Ingerland, and it now features widely in football commentary, especially as a way of encapsulating the aggressive behaviour of some fans. It has connotations of strongly patriotic (or even racist) attitudes to national identity, e.g.:

'When Spurs went 1-0 up from a pass by a Dutchman to an Irishman they sang "one nil to Ingerland", so they also think that Keane is English too.'
(Arsenal Times, 22nd April 2006)

The soccer pitch is not the only quarry of new words – sport generally, as a topic of national interest and the source of vivid metaphors, continues to influence the expansion of the English lexicon. A few other examples from the last couple of years include:

chin music noun [U] in cricket or baseball, bowling or pitching aimed at the batsman's head
'With the Hawks leading 7-2 in the ninth, lefty Tomoki Hoshino played the towering Zuleta some 133 kph chin music that left the Panamanian scowling.'
(The Daily Yomiuri, Japan, 7th May 2006)

monster verb [T] (often passive) in rugby, to defeat another team convincingly. There is some evidence that this is beginning to cross over into non-sporting contexts, as illustrated by the second example below:
'The last time Williams played in conditions like these, the Hawks were monstered by the Brisbane Lions and a shivering Williams was benched by coach Peter Schwab.'
(The Australian, 1st May 2006)

'Jack was holding a TV night at Bute House for everyone to watch Blair get monstered in the council elections.'
(The Scotsman, 6th May 2006)

doosra noun [C] in cricket, a ball bowled in such a way that it spins away from right-handed batsmen. The term, (pronounced something like /dusr/) is derived from the Hindi/Urdu word doosra meaning 'second, another', and is the first Asian word to make it into the English cricketing lexicon.
'After Tresco worked him away for a couple of runs, Murali lofted his doosra towards the England player's outside edge.'
(The Guardian, 11th May 2006)

groundshare also ground-share noun [C/U] the activity or principle of two local sports teams sharing a stadium. This term hit the British spotlight when plans for rival football teams Everton and Liverpool to share a new stadium were rejected. It is sometimes used as an intransitive verb (often collocating with with), and an activity noun groundsharing is also quite common.
'Liverpool are hoping to build an £84m ground at Stanley Park and Everton's financial situation makes a groundshare their best option.'
(BBC Sport, 8th July 2004)

'They have ground-shared with Richmond since 1894 and the two clubs lost their professional status in 1999 after hitting financial problems.'
(The Guardian, 5th February 2004)

bench player noun [C] a player who does not regularly play for the first team, but shows good form and potential. This expression is beginning to cross over from sport into mainstream use as a description of a person who shows promising performance, a useful 'second-rater' .
'His replacement is Sanchez, once considered a bench player, but suddenly good enough to bat third on a daily basis.'
(Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 7th May 2006)

For more information about new and topical words and phrases, read Kerry's Word of the Week articles on the MED Resource Site.