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Football Language Podcast: (to) Hoof it

Hoof ItHello everyone and welcome to another of the languagecaster team’s short football language bonus podcasts – you lucky things! My name is Damon and I’ll be talking about the verb phrase ‘to hoof it’, which is a phrase we talked about seven years ago in 2012, but I’d like to add a bit more detail to in this podcast. As usual, any questions or comments about this or any other football phrase, or you have your own suggestion, then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here.

Football Language: 2019 (to) Hoof It

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Hello everyone and welcome to another of the languagecaster team’s short football language bonus podcasts – you lucky things! My name is Damon and  I’ll be talking about the verb phrase ‘to hoof it’, which is a phrase we talked about seven years ago in 2012, but I’d like to add a bit more detail to in this podcast. As usual, any questions or comments about this or any other football phrase, or you have your own suggestion, then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. You can also find loads more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page  and our huge football glossary. Just type languagecaster.com into your browser.

Right let’s kick off, and I’d like to start with ‘it‘. So, this ‘it‘ replaces the noun ‘the ball‘ – hoof the ball. Replacing ‘the ball‘ with ‘it‘ happens quite a bit in football, and another example would be something like a player shouting, ‘pass it, pass the ball’. Usually, this phrase uses ‘it‘ rather than ‘the ball‘ but both can be used. Now, the ‘meat’ of the phrase, the real meaning, lies in the word ‘hoof‘, which is a horse’s foot. Horses have four hooves, and you have to be careful around horses because if they kick you with their hoof, it could cause real damage.

This idea of a powerful kick from a horse is where this phrase comes from; the noun hoof, is turned into a verb, to hoof, and describes an inelegant long kick, usually into the opposition‘s half and usually by a defender. Skilful teams often like to keep possession and play the ball out of the back, they pass the ball from defenders to midfield, and from the midfield to the final third, but to hoof it means to simply kick the ball as hard as you can. A lot of fans might shout at a defender under pressure, ‘Just hoof it‘; they want the defender to take the safe option and clear the ball as far away from danger as possible.

Here is an example rom a Guardian minute-by-minute report on a game between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic in 2009: “Five United players streamed into the Wigan box and the ball pinged around in there for a few seconds until Bramble desperately hoofed it clear.”

You won’t find this phrase in most regular reports on football, as it is a very casual expressions. So you might expect to hear it by a pundit, especially an older one, fans, or, as in the example, a minute-by-minute live report.

Other phrases that are connected with hoof it are Row Z, long-ball team, and get rid. Come along to our site and check out the meaning of these and hundreds more phrases at languagecaster.com.

OK, that’s it for this short football language podcast. Enjoy all the football, ta-ra!

  

Learn English Through Football Podcast
Learn English Through Football Podcast
Damian Fitzpatrick

Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills

Hosted by
grell

I was born and brought up near Chester in the north west of England. I have always loved playing and talking about sport, especially football!
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