Mark Liberman at the excellent Language Log points to two US cartoon strips expressing bafflement about the British tradition of observing Boxing Day on 26 December.
In Australia, Boxing Day is about watching (or listening to) day one of the Test match at the MCG. (OK, if you’re an anti-sporting type, it’s a day for shopping.)
Since 1980 we Aussies have gotten used to the idea that the Boxing Day Test must, naturally, be hosted in Melbourne and that overseas teams should take their duly allotted turn at attempting to beat us on our home turf while our Firxt XI get to spend Christmas with their families.
This year the South African cricket authorities have murmured about the possibility of their national team staying home for the Christmas-New Year period and hosting their own international Test match on Boxing Day. Perfectly reasonable, when viewed from their side of the pond. It will be interesting to see whether the Australian Cricket Board are able to behave like grown-ups and come to some sort of mutually acceptable arrangement with their SA counterparts.
Postscript: to enjoy the cricket season to its fullest, you really must get to know your commentators.
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.