camwyn: Me in a bomber jacket and jeans standing next to a green two-man North Andover Flight Academy helicopter. (Default)
camwyn ([personal profile] camwyn) wrote2003-10-01 10:19 am

Those of you who speak British,

I wanted to ask for metaphor help...

What's the British English equivalent of the American high-pressure metaphor that refers to baseball? Specifically, is there a British equivalent to 'bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs'? I was listening to Billy Joel's song "Pressure" today and realised that, while it's a very useful way of describing someone in a do-or-die kind of situation, it only works in countries where baseball is common and understood.
taimatsu: (Default)

[personal profile] taimatsu 2003-10-01 07:57 am (UTC)(link)
No idea. You can use cricket metaphors, but I don't do cricket, so the only one of those I know is 'sticky wicket' which refers to a difficult situation - but not one as serious as that described above.

Hmmmm. I can't think of any comparable sporting metaphors. I'm sure there are several non-sporting relevant metaphors in common use, but I can't think of any of those, either.