• @DarkCloud
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    665 months ago

    sticky wicket

    noun

    A difficult or embarrassing problem or situation. A pitch that has become wet because of rain and therefore on which the ball bounces unpredictably. A difficult or unpredictable situation.

    • Bob
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      45 months ago

      Is this not commonly known? I used this expression just yesterday.

      • @[email protected]
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        135 months ago

        Well, there are people outside of the US, some of whom don’t even have English as their first language. A quick investigation into this leads me.to believe that there might even be more people outside the US than inside. Most of those people have never heard of a sticky wicket.

        • @[email protected]
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          95 months ago

          Is this a US expression? I never heard it growing up so I just assumed it was from the UK or something

          • @[email protected]
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            55 months ago

            I just looked it up and apparently it comes from cricket, which of course is not an American sport. I just assumed it was American, because Gary Larson is an American.

            Ah, well. My original point that most people will never have heard of it still stands. And who doesn’t enjoy making fun of ignorant Americans? 😄

        • Bob
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          5 months ago

          I’ll thank you to stop insinuating that I’m American, and it’s so bleedingly obvious that I’m not talking about non-native speakers.

  • @deleteme
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    635 months ago

    A “sticky wicket”.

    • @A_Filthy_Weeaboo
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      315 months ago

      Thank you, I honestly wouldn’t have figured it out…Sometimes The Far Side is completely obvious, sometimes it’s completely obtuse.

      • @deleteme
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        15 months ago

        Did someone just say “weaboo”?

  • @Ironfacebuster
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    155 months ago

    I gotta say, this is one of the few comics I’ve seen where I didn’t get the joke at all until it was explained

  • @[email protected]
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    5 months ago

    Those aren’t wickets, at least not cricket wickets. Unless the hoops used in croquet are also called wickets.

    Though depicting a factory that produces an otherwise ordinary wooden pole would be a little more challenging to be unambiguous.