About the word "baulk"

J

jpsauve

Registered
Hello all,
I am currently checking the translation of several snooker documents from English into Portuguese and I am wondering about the exact semantics for the word "baulk" used in the game of snooker.
I hope someone can tell me why this particular term is used so that I can find an adequate translation.

thanks
Jacques
 
It wouldn't surprise me if it has a French origin (Google says Scots), but it has the meaning of a hindrance or impediment, which makes sense. In English billiards you can't shoot at a ball in baulk when playing from hand, and at various times it was required to enter baulk during completion of a certain number of points in a break to make the game harder (no longer a requirement).

To baulk at something is to shy away or refuse to attempt something.

The reason why it's there at all is because a snooker table is in fact a billiards table. It has no function beyond tradition in snooker unless you also want to play a game of billiards on it. All the spots and markings existed before snooker was invented.

It can also mean to retch or vomit, though this may be a colloquialism. Judging by the state of the tables in the Pig & Whistle I suspect this is probably where it originally comes from. You have to break off from behind the stain, and you cannot hit a piece of carrot until you have hit a cushion.

Boro Nut
 
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jpsauve said:
Hello all,
I am currently checking the translation of several snooker documents from English into Portuguese and I am wondering about the exact semantics for the word "baulk" used in the game of snooker.
I hope someone can tell me why this particular term is used so that I can find an adequate translation.

thanks
Jacques
Click to expand...
IF you trace billiards back to lawn game, including croquet, you'll find baulk lines. The word "baulk" can be traced to meaning "partition." So, in croquet, the baulk lines are partition lines.

I'm sure there is a more complete history of the transition to billiards as well.

Fred
 
Cornerman said:
IF you trace billiards back to lawn game, including croquet, you'll find baulk lines. The word "baulk" can be traced to meaning "partition." So, in croquet, the baulk lines are partition lines.

I'm sure there is a more complete history of the transition to billiards as well.

Fred
Click to expand...
I don't remember any lines in croquet at all Fred, though I cant vouch that there weren't some once. You just have to go through the hoops in the right direction in strict sequence before hitting the central peg to win. Not sure anyone has ever done a 'maximum' break.

It's a nasty game by the way, not nearly the gentile distraction of polite society it's portrayed as. A player spends most of his time bladdering his opponents ball(s) into the bushes while putting his foot on his own ball to stop it following, all to the shout of "Croquet!! Take that Jeffers you c*nt". To which the response is 'Oh jolly good shot Vicar'.

Boro Nut
 
Boro Nut said:
I don't remember any lines in croquet at all Fred, though I cant vouch that there weren't some once.
Click to expand...
Hmmm.... maybe I'm just inferring that there was an actual line. Someone in the back of my memory told me of the baulk line as the starting line in "real croquet." I could be simply losing my mind.

Fred
 
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