Curling Terms
Curling: a game in which you slide rocks along a surface of ice . Rocks you expect to
curl, go straight, and rocks you expect to go straight, curl. It's lots of fun and the outcome of the game can be left totally
up to chance.
Hack:.A hopelessly untalented curler.
Front End: The 2 players that make the Skip look good.
Take Out: The meal wolfed down between shots in the 3rd game of the day.
Raise: An increase in pay of 100% to an unpaid player after a good shot.
Rings: Gifts brought home to abandoned Curling wives.
Draw: The best outcome of a match between a husband and a wife.
Keen: The attitude of a curler in the first end until the opposition scores 6.
Heavy: The curling rock that Bubba picks up and wipes off the bottom on the chest of
his sweater.
Button: Also known as a bench a place to put your tired
butt on.
House: A dwelling a curler owns and dwells in during the summer months and visits between
bonspiels in winter.
Sweep: Something a curler (except Skip) will almost kill himself doing on ice, but
wouldn't be caught dead doing it at home.
Broom: Also Brush... something for a skip to lean on. He gets tired standing around doing
all that....??
Freeze: What you will do until you have swept the first 2 stones.
Skip: The position that all the players think they are playing.
Vice: What the curlers do when they aren't playing.
Second: The amount of time between a button draw and a hack weight takeout.
Lead: Short for leader.. the truely most important member of the team.
Hurry: A way to make it to the washroom between shots.
Hard: The shot you are expected to make to save the end.
Blank: The look on a skip's face when he blows his hammer shot by an open hit and gives
up six.
Hammer: What you want to use on a skip after missing that open hit and giving up
6.
In-turn: When all the players throw in the proper order.
Out-turn: When the Vice has thrown 3 stones and thinks he gets another shot.
Guard: Any shot that was supposed to take out an opponent's stone but came up short of
the house.
Hit: Any shot that was supposed to be a guard but was too heavy and knocked out a
stone or 2 or 3.
Double: What every losing team wants to order when the opposition asks what they
are drinking.
Triple: A double but even better.. especially if you lost.
Negative ice: A skip's explanation for why he missed the shot by a mile.
Off the Broom: The brief moments in a game when the Skip isn't leaning on his broom.
END: What you think a game will never do .. but it does.
Good Curling: Being healthy enough to be at the rink and able to participate. Consider
the alternatives.
Great Shot: Any time lady luck is on your side.
Nice try: Crummy shot.
Outside, Inside, Pinched the broom... any of these are used by the skip to say you missed
the shot . It never implies that he put the broom in the wrong place in the first place.
Free Guard Zone: The area of the ice where all the shots that were too light end
up.
Gallery: The 100's of people that witness you miss the simple hit and stay for the win.
Also.. the 1 lone soul that witnesses the quadruple angle raise takeout for 8.
Slider: A common expression heard 2hrs. after the game at the lounge table.
as in..
" That thar beer ther.. slider over here will ya!"
Gripper: The guy who knows why every shot was a miss... the ice was too wide, a straw
caught the stone, frost on the ice.. wait.. I thought you said GRIPER!
Pick: The reason why the skip came up short on a free draw by 12 feet.
Skins: Those things the players wear with the goosebumps.
Wide: Not Narrow
Narrow: Not wide
Hit: not narrow or wide.. just lucky.
Chip: a short shot with a short backswing in order to land the ball on the green... oops
wishing it were summer.
Tee- Line.. the place where you must set up the ball before you.... oops still thinking
of summer...
Hog: the first guy to the buffet table at a curling banquet
Hog Line: the rest of the people at the buffet table at a curling banquet
Sheets: what the Newfie curler suffers after 3 jugs of crummy draft beer
Pebble: that huge piece of something that snags under the rock to make it come to
a sudden and untimely stop
League: something most players that play in,usually belong in someone else's
Beginner: somone who makes the great shots with the wrong turn and a crappy delivey
Delivery: that beautiful fully balanced rink-long slide with a controlled smooth release
that allows the shot to miss anyway
Release: remembering to let go of the rock, remembering to give the correct
turn, remembering to apply the correct weight, remembering you were supposed to be throwing the other colour ....just as you
let go of the rock
The Flip: the most important measure of skill in the entire game to determine what colour
the handles are on the rocks you play
Bonspiel: an excuse to get together with a bunch of guys.. drink some beer, curl
a few ends, drink some beer, curl a few more ends..drink some more beer, smoke some cigars, drink some more beer....
Broom Bag: an extra large carrying case that will hold 1 curling broom, 24 cans of beer,
1 bottle scotch, 1 large bag of ice cubes, 3 bags of pretzels and more
Draw Master: the guy you beat last game that decides that next game you will
play will be against the defending world champions
Measurement: the use of 3 fingers laid against the side of a tall glass to indicate
how much rum you want in that glass
Stats: a display, usually on TV, of how many shots you have missed in a row or a
percent number of how many shots you have made .. this number can not exceed 30
Tap: that long handle the bar maid pulls to fill the jug
Rocks: what you freeze off while waiting for the opposition to show up
Extra end: the lead and second's most favourite time of the 3rd 10 end game of the day
4 ft: the space between the object rock and the lead's shooter as he misses a takeout
8 ft. the space between the object rock and the 3rd's shooter as he misses a takeout
12 ft. the space between the object rock and the skip's shooter as he misses
a takeout
Biter: that one rock in the last end of a tied game that has been shot at and missed
6 times in a row
Tie Breaker: the 10 end game between the 2 teams tied for 5th place scheduled
at 6 am Sun Morning.. can easily be determined by the flip of a coin.
Trophy: that prize they give the winning team that will usually not fit inside a
minivan, & takes 4 gloating grown-ups to carry, & takes up to 3/4 of the team picture and has not been engraved for
the past 12 years. Smaller varieties fill attics, garages and basements everywhere.
Winners: those that lady luck liked the most
Losers: the most skilled players with the best excuses
Stone: that extremely heavy piece of granite that seems to slide and slide and slide
and slide with very little effort
Luck: what the other team always has more of
