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Understanding Business Sports Speak

A constant complaint from people in organisations is the volume of buzz-words and gobbledygook spoken by people in meetings. It’s not just that running your ducks up a flagpole to see if they can sing hymns is annoying; often the phrases make no sense. Sporting phrases can be confusing to non-sports fans and Americanisms confusing to non-Americans; American sport-isms can be just plain baffling.

Here’s a few we get asked about most often:

“The Whole Nine Yards”
Meaning:	Everything, the whole lot.
Example:	"We put everything into the presentation – diagrams, animation, video, flaming logos, the whole nine yards."
Origin:	Unknown. May be that nine yards of material go into a tailored suit, or that US soldiers in the 1960’s were required to run nine yards in three seconds to demonstrate they could escape sniper fire, it’s unlikely to have come from running nine yards in American Football as it came into use in the 1960’s, but is often attributed there.

“Rain Check”
Meaning:	An option to take up the offer again at a more convenient time.
Example:	"I’ll take a rain check on that meeting invitation."
Origin:	When a baseball game is called off early because of rain, spectators have a ‘rain check’ ticket stub which allows them to return to the re-scheduled game without paying again.

“Touch Base”
Meaning:	Make contact, or renew communication with someone after a period of time.
Example:	"Let’s touch base next time I’m in Liverpool."
Origin:	In baseball, runners have to touch each base as they run around the diamond without being tagged by the ball. Touching base is therefore a clear, but quick act.

“Covering The Bases”
Meaning:	Ensure all risks are thought through and contingencies are in place, be fully prepared.
Example:	"Can we make sure we’ve covered the all bases on the legal front."
Origin:	In baseball, to ensure that fielding players have the best chance of tagging out a runner they stand close to the bases, or on them, preparing to catch the ball and before a baserunner reaches them.