One Nil

(I wrote this post during the previous (2010) World Cup in South Africa. In the finals, Spain beat Netherlands One Nil.  Four years ago, soccer was not that popular in USA.  Broadcasters were never heard of the word "NIL".  So they took a special liking in pronouncing that word.  I have almost a new set of readers now to my blog (I took a 2 year sabbatical).  It is for their benefit.  Hope you like this post.)

 

Published on July 7, 2010.

 

Today will be an enthusiastic day for American sports announcers in television and radio stations. Here is the reason.

 

The meaning for the word “nil” is zero or nothing. In sports, it is used in soccer very commonly. However, in USA, when there is no score the term “nothing” is used. Never have they used the word “nil”. Also, soccer is not that popular in USA yet.

 

But there is lot of enthusiasm here during the soccer world cup. It is given very high priority in news. World cup matches are televised live.

 

Sports announcers get a kick out of saying the word “nil”. Actually, they love saying it. They enjoy saying it. If the score is something like 2 to 1, they don’t show that much enthusiasm. There is some enthusiasm when the score is “2 nil” or “3 nil” or “nil nil”. But their biggest pleasure is when they announce the score “one nil”. Their pronunciation is more pronounced. A few minutes ago, Spain beat Germany one nil. They will be very happily saying throughout the day:

 

Today Spain beat Germany onnneeennniiilll. (Keep the "n" in your tongue a little longer).