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Colemanballs. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From Coleman + balls (“nonsense”), from the football commentator David Coleman. Originally the title of a column in Private Eye magazine collecting mistakes in sports commentary.
Noun
Colemanballs (plural Colemanballs)
- (UK) A malapropism, mixed metaphor or other humorous misspeaking, especially in sports commentary.
1987 October 16, Rayner Banham, “On the Wings of Wonder”, in New Society, volume 82, number 1294, pages 18–20:British TV viewers may think themselves lucky that all they got for commentary on the last Olympics was the usual load of Colemanballs
2004, George Best, Scoring At Half-Time: Adventures On and Off the Pitch, →ISBN, page 259:It is footballers though, rather than commentators, presenters or pundits, who when interviewed have provided some of the best Colemanballs.
2011, Bob Bevan, Nearly Famous: Adventures of an After-Dinner Speaker, →ISBN:I read out a quote from Harry Cavan, who was Northern Ireland's FIFA representative. He had made a Colemanballs with "The Scots are still refusing to meet us in Belfast, so we may have to compromise on this and meet them halfway."
Synonyms