What do you call a lucky shot?

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mbvl

AzB Silver Member
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I'm curious what words are used for lucky shots in billiards. In snooker they are called "flukes". In pool they are called "slop shots". When I was learning billiards they were called "scratches". In Mexican slang a shot made in an unintential way is a "zappo" meaning "toad" because both are ugly. In Colombia they say "chimba" (best not translated literally) because "the man got lucky". One person told me that where he came from they were called "dogs", and the popular saying was, "It's not the dogs that kill you, it's the puppies."

So, what words are used in other languages and cultures?

What got me thinking about this is something that I saw today during the live coverage of the World Cup tournament in Sluiskil. Tsuyoshi Suzuki of Japan was playing Michael Lohse of Denmark. With the score one set apiece and 10-10 in the deciding set Suzuki shot straight into a big fat kiss. The first object ball sent the second object flying and with all three balls screaming around the table, the point eventually scored. Suzuki then proceded to run four more to win the match. I'm sure Lohse was not at all happy about that litter of puppies.

Mark
 
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jimshovak

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At Carom Cafe, it is called Chimba (Spanish). New Yorkers call it a "Cluck" or even a "Clunk". Others call it a "Sh-t Shot" (censored).

The correct terminology in English is a "scratch". But it is interesting to see how many different expressions there are.
 
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jimshovak

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In Massachusetts, they call an "easy shot" a "bunny". Others call an easy shot a "cookie" or a "hanger" (a pool reference when the object ball is "hanging" out of the pocket).
 
M

mbvl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks to everyone for the replies. So far we have "toad", "fish", "potato", "pussy", and "jing-baa" (yet to be translated). I know there must be more.

Also I would like to hear what other cultures call easy shots. Jim has already contributed "bunny", "cookie", and "hanger".

Actually (this could go on forever) there are many billiard terms that may have completely different origins in other languages. How about "ticky" or "umbrella"?

Mark
 
3

3cPlayer

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In Germany it's called a "Fuchs" meaning fox. I don't know why.
I never played in Korea so I can't tell what phrase they use for a lucky shot.

I call a kiss FBI or Polizei (police) :) :grin-square:
 
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seven

AzB Silver Member
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lol.. funny names.. we have one that is native to my particular pool hall.
A really good player who's second language is English was playing a game. his opponent made a lucky shot. instead of saying "lucky" i guess his tounge got a bit tied, he said "LOBSTER" needless to say everyone laughed. and it has stuck. a luck shot to us is a "Lobster" and if you get really lucky, we cal it a "CRUSTATION" . Sometimes we sign language it. (ill leave that one to your imaginations) :)
 
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JPB

AzB Silver Member
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Playing once with an excellent Denver player Leonard Williams who some of you may know. Very nice guy. He scratched into one and told me, "When you make one like that it is best to try to run 4 or 5 more to really make your opponent happy.":) Naturally he could often do something like that and proceeded to make a few more.
 
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jimshovak

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The next time you see an easy time-shot or a kiss shot where you know you will score the point: after you hit the cue ball, yell "Oh, CRAP!" and then after you score the billiard, say "Sorry", just to make your opponent think that you got lucky. Then score 4 more. Keep yelling "Oh, CRAP!" after every point.
 
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TimurA

AzB Silver Member
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jimshovak said:
The next time you see an easy time-shot or a kiss shot where you know you will score the point: after you hit the cue ball, yell "Oh, CRAP!" and then after you score the billiard, say "Sorry", just to make your opponent think that you got lucky. Then score 4 more. Keep yelling "Oh, CRAP!" after every point.
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I do the exact thing you derscribe.But I must confess I laugh most of the time after I say 'sorry' becouse of the joy of scoring:)

When I watch professionals ,they seem to feel very guilty after lucky shots but they never refuse to take the point:)

Sometimes I think about whether lucky shots can be forbidden in 3 cushion.I mean when there is a kiss ,İt must be called out beforehand by the shooter;otherwise it should not score becouse lucky shots look very unjust and in my opinion ugly in 3C.but the authorities do not go to that way ;probably such a prohibition will cause alot of problems in the game.

Regards,
 
3kushn

3kushn

AzB Silver Member
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TimurA said:
I do the exact thing you derscribe.But I must confess I laugh most of the time after I say 'sorry' becouse of the joy of scoring:)

When I watch professionals ,they seem to feel very guilty after lucky shots but they never refuse to take the point:)

Sometimes I think about whether lucky shots can be forbidden in 3 cushion.I mean when there is a kiss ,İt must be called out beforehand by the shooter;otherwise it should not score becouse lucky shots look very unjust and in my opinion ugly in 3C.but the authorities do not go to that way ;probably such a prohibition will cause alot of problems in the game.

Regards,
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Ya lets not go there, adding rules. We had a guy in town who quit cause nobody wanted to play by his rule of no kisses and no mech. bridge.

The game is hard enough. Besides. Why is there less luck in a game if kisses aren't allowed vs are. On the one hand you have the luck if I kiss and loose a turn vs I have the luck by making the shot after a kiss. Either way somebody enjoys some luck.

For me these kinds of rules outside the published rules are the cause for so much arguing and it takes some of the fun out of the game. No offence but look at the pool side. Most of the arguing is over some sort of rule disagreement.

Now if there's a wager and you want to set up some additional parameters fine, other than that lets leave it alone.
 
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TimurA

AzB Silver Member
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3kushn said:
Ya lets not go there, adding rules. We had a guy in town who quit cause nobody wanted to play by his rule of no kisses and no mech. bridge.

The game is hard enough. Besides. Why is there less luck in a game if kisses aren't allowed vs are. On the one hand you have the luck if I kiss and loose a turn vs I have the luck by making the shot after a kiss. Either way somebody enjoys some luck.

For me these kinds of rules outside the published rules are the cause for so much arguing and it takes some of the fun out of the game. No offence but look at the pool side. Most of the arguing is over some sort of rule disagreement.

Now if there's a wager and you want to set up some additional parameters fine, other than that lets leave it alone.
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the cue games or other sports are never constant.The rules,equipment and ethiquette always change becouse of technological advances and coming of new generations,either players or spectators.İt is not bad .Actually it should change otherwise no sport can survive.

with regards to 3C, it must benefit as much as possible from technology and must become a much more statistical game ,I think and maybe the rules must be enriched more.

To get into the USA market,which is the biggest sport market in the world ,is a totally different problem.If I were a UMB official who thinks about making 3c a top cue game and sport in USA,I would scratch my head a lot since 3C was a big cue sport in the past and nearly died in USA and dead things dont come back as Darwin taught us.The 3c must be totally reimagined in rules in order to be sold to big American TV channels.On the other hand,the current UMB president may not care very much about the USA market as the Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone does not care very much American Formula 1 market since their respective sports are big enough in other markets.

and what rules must be changed or added or deleted?I have no idea actually apart from some technological suggestions which I had talked about in a previous thread.

regards,
 
3kushn

3kushn

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
TimurA said:
the cue games or other sports are never constant.The rules,equipment and ethiquette always change becouse of technological advances and coming of new generations,either players or spectators.İt is not bad .Actually it should change otherwise no sport can survive.

with regards to 3C, it must benefit as much as possible from technology and must become a much more statistical game ,I think and maybe the rules must be enriched more.

To get into the USA market,which is the biggest sport market in the world ,is a totally different problem.If I were a UMB official who thinks about making 3c a top cue game and sport in USA,I would scratch my head a lot since 3C was a big cue sport in the past and nearly died in USA and dead things dont come back as Darwin taught us.The 3c must be totally reimagined in rules in order to be sold to big American TV channels.On the other hand,the current UMB president may not care very much about the USA market as the Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone does not care very much American Formula 1 market since their respective sports are big enough in other markets.

and what rules must be changed or added or deleted?I have no idea actually apart from some technological suggestions which I had talked about in a previous thread.

regards,
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I'm not saying that there shouldn't be rule changes even though I can't think of any that would improve the sport. What I was talking about is local rules and particularly disallowing kisses. I can easily count on one hand the number of serious arguments I've had playing 3C. 99.9999% of disagreements are solved in seconds. Disallowing kisses and similar rules like allowing, if you touch the CB and it doesn't go a certain distance is a courtesy allowed by an opponent but would be silly for tournament rules.

Regarding kisses there are many times that a kiss doesn't effect outcome other than the resulting shape. There's also kisses that ruin the shot and of course kisses that make the shot score. Additionally most shots can be made more than one way. Nobody on earth makes every shot exactly how it's planned. The knowledgeable player will likely (not always) choose a shot that has multiple ways of scoring vs a lower percentage shot.

Lets assume there's a legitimate kiss shot on the table. I suppose I would need to call the kiss since kisses aren't allowed. Now lets say I miss the kiss but make the shot somehow. Do I loose my turn? Suppose so.

In my opinion disallowing kisses simply opens a can of worms. Next step is call your shot. Now a 40 minute game turns into 1-1/2 hours for a decent player and the game is justt that much more difficult for the beginner - .750 player. Only the best in the world could handle such a game.

People seem to dwell on kisses that cause the score and don't want them to count, since that was "luck", but forget the other kiss situations. So would it be a good rule that a kiss that doesn't change the CB path be disallowed? Will we score a point if the CB was hit well but got kissed out in the end? If so how do we define a well hit CB? It will never end in my opinion.

I can probably go on but I think my position is clear. Play the game under the rules set down. If they oficially change, follow the rules. If you get a lucky kiss, we both laugh it off and have some fun with it.
 
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