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It’s no secret that basketball is my favorite sport.

I don’t mind watching other sports. But football games tend to last too long to hold my interest the entire time. Baseball is fine, but often feels a little too slow-paced for my tastes. I find hockey hard to follow. (“It gets better the more you watch,” my brother assured me once, but I feel skeptical.) And soccer can be fun, but watching it on TV always feels to me like watching it as a bird from a million miles away.

But basketball is generally fast-paced, and keeps my attention the whole time. I think it’s fun to see the players jump around trying to get the ball through the hoop. I even played a little bit of basketball in middle school, but I wasn’t nearly athletic enough to continue.

Merriam-Webster’s website has an article about basketball-related words and phrases – some that have become idioms and some that just have interesting histories – so I thought I’d share them this week.

Slam dunk: “something that is sure to happen or to be successful.”

On the basketball court, a slam dunk is when a player jumps high and then jams the ball through the hoop. Personally, I think slam dunks are some of the best plays to watch during a game (unless, of course, the other team is the one making the shots. Then it’s terrible!) The term gained popularity in the 1960s thanks to the prowess of professional player Wilt Chamberlain.

But, as is common with languages, the popular phrase eventually took on a figurative meaning too. For example, a lawyer confident about winning may describe an upcoming court case as a “slam dunk.”

Something that seems like a “slam dunk” might be considered easy to accomplish. Which is kind of funny considering how difficult it would be for most of us to perform an actual slam dunk in a basketball game!

Full-court press: “an all-out effort or offensive.”

I must admit that the full-court press is my favorite defensive play to see in a basketball game (unless, of course, the other team is full-court pressing my favorite team. Then it’s terrible!). In a game, a full-court press is when the team playing defense adds extra pressure by “pressing” the offense throughout the whole court, instead of just waiting until they reach half-court or get near the basket.

Like “slam dunk,” this term entered our lexicon with a figurative meaning too. A military general, for example, could describe a push forward with his soldiers as a “full-court press,” meaning that they’re going to put every bit of effort they can into the task.

Not every common basketball term, however, has become an idiom. But it’s interesting to learn that some phrases we associate with basketball originated elsewhere.

Alley-oop: “a basketball play in which a leaping player catches a pass above the basket and immediately dunks the ball” and also “the usually looping pass thrown on such a play.”

I love watching a basketball player score like this. It’s almost like watching ballet, except the music is just the sound of the crowd cheering or booing. But I had no idea that the term “alley-oop” was also used in football commentary too, often to describe plays made by Raleigh Climon Owens.

But the origin of “alley-oop” is even older than that. Circus acrobats sometimes used the phrase in the early 20th century, and the word seems to stem from the French word “allez” which means “to go.”

Jump shot: “a shot in basketball made by jumping into the air.”

This term is pretty self-explanatory. And if I was talking about watching someone’s jump shot, you’d probably assume I’m talking about basketball. But actually, in the 19th century, the term was also used to describe a type of billiards shot.

Unlike in basketball, I’m going to assume the “jump” part in billiards refers to the balls and not to the person making the shot.

Brick: “a badly missed shot in basketball.”

While the building material is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of bricks, it can also refer to a shot in basketball that’s so bad, it just “falls like a brick” from the rim. Nobody wants to see someone shooting bricks in basketball (unless, of course, it’s the team playing against your favorite team. Then it’s great!)

This definition of “brick” started being used in the 1970s and has stuck around ever since.

Ball hog: “a player on a team sport who controls and shoots the ball excessively instead of passing it to teammates.”

According to Merriam-Webster, this term isn’t exclusive to basketball, but its earliest uses in sports commentary were in reference to that particular game. Their example quote dated back to 1947.

But why “hog?” Well, in addition to the animal, another definition of hog is “to take in excess of one’s due.” I can only assume the word gained that meaning after someone spent a lot of time watching how much a pig can eat.

Hoopster: “a basketball player.”

It makes sense that “hoopster” is one word for a basketball player, since hoops are a pretty prominent part of the game. Apparently people have been using the word to describe basketball players for over 100 years.

But there have been other short-lived nicknames for basketball players too. A newspaper quote from 1916 referred to players as “cagers” though I’m not sure why. (Perhaps that’s why it didn’t catch on.) Another one from 1899 called them “basketballers” which is accurate but a bit too long. My personal favorite example, however, was “basketeers” from a newspaper in 1943. That one’s fun to say.

But, I suppose, nothing beats “hoopster.”

I hope the next time you catch a basketball game, you’ll now know a little bit more about the phrases connected to the sport.

Holly Taylor is a staff writer for Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact her at holly.taylor@r-cnews.com or at 252-332-7206.