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Football Phrase of the Week: (to) Dwell on
This podcast’s weekly football phrase is the verb phrase ‘to dwell on’. This is used to describe talk about a player in control of the ball. Read the transcript for this post below, and for more football language and vocabulary you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions, then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Introduction
DB: Hello there everyone. This is the Learn English Through Football’s weekly football phrase. My name’s Damon. How are you doing? I hope you are well and enjoying the football. I’m based in a cloudy, wet Tokyo and am still a bit down after my team Liverpool were beaten with a stoppage time goal against Manchester City! It was a crazy game and well done for Manchester City for taking advantage of the errors Liverpool made. Oh well, there’s still a lot to play for. How about your team? Did they do better than Liverpool?
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Swahili)
DB: Yes you are listening to LearnEnglishThroughFootball.com, and that message was in Swahili.
(to) Dwell on
DB: OK, let’s turn to this week’s football phrase, which I heard during a Tottenham versus Newcastle United game. The phrase is ‘to dwell on‘. This is a verb phrase that is mostly combined with ‘the ball‘ and ‘too long‘ to give to dwell on the ball too long.
The phrase means to keep the ball too long and to not be aware that there is an opponent who can take the ball off you. A player who dwells on the ball too long is too slow and is in danger of losing the ball.
Here is an example of how it can be used from ESPN.com: “Matty Cash dwelt on the ball for too long, allowed Patrick Dorgu to pounce, and then the ball fell to Cunha, who curled the ball past Emiliano Martinez with ease.”
So, Matty Cash held the ball too long and Dorgu took the ball off him.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (A Chelsea fan)
Pocket Picked
DB: If you dwell on the ball you may have your pocket picked. This phrase means to steal something, so in football it means a player takes, steals, the ball off someone. Usually it is a surprise tackle, so maybe from behind. Players who are dwelling on the ball may also not be paying attention, so it’s easy to pick their pocket.
Here is an example from the Belfast Telegraph match report on a Linfield v Glentoran match: “The usually reliable Chris Shields had his pocket picked … (as he) dwelt on the ball just outside the area.”
Man on!
DB: If a player is taking too long on the ball and is about to be tackled, the crowd and teammates will often shout ‘Man on!‘, to warn the player. I read that ‘Man on’ in Brazilian Portuguese is “Ladrão”, which means “Thief”. This is perfect when you think of the phrase to pick someone’s pocket – a thief stealing something.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Icelandic)
DB: And thank you for that message, which was in Icelandic. So, on today’s weekly football phrase, we talked about ‘to dwell on the ball‘, ‘to have your pocket picked‘ and the shout ‘Man on!‘. Listen in again athis weekend when we’ll have our main Learn English Through Football podcast. Also, share any phrases from your language if you can or let us know if you hear these phrases in the next week of football. Drop us a line at contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com. Don’t forget to like us on your podcast provider and tell a friend about us!
Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll be back soon. Ta-ra!
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
https://languagecaster.com/football-language-glossary/
