"Chinese snookered"????

[well]

During the UK final coverage, the commentators mentioned the term "Chinese snookered", when you get the cueball tight on a colour and together with an object red the three balls are in a line.

Why the phrase "Chinese snookered" here? Any response is welcome. Thank you.



EDIT: does anyone know where I can download those little documentaries BBC showed in the mid session interval? With a look back on this tourament and one about Ronnie. Thanks a million!

[mcmanusrules]

Chineese snooker is when you CAN see the object balls but cueing is awkward- the reason being Chinese is backwards, and this is a backwards snooker.

[..KiD DyNaMiTe..]

Imagine rolling up to a colour ball very very very tightly snookering your opponent............now turn it it around.

[well]

Chineese snooker is when you CAN see the object balls but cueing is awkward- the reason being Chinese is backwards, and this is a backwards snooker.

What the feck is that supposed to mean I beg your pardon?

[cap]

I think well is after why it is called 'Chinese snooker'. I don't have the answer, I'm afraid.

[hegeland]

I don't think anyone knows why its called that. The answer is lost in the old history of the game if I'm not mistaken.

[mcmanusrules]

I meant what WT said in commentry, he may be wrong in that writing right to left, and reading that way too.
Am I right or wrong?

[well]

I think well is after why it is called 'Chinese snooker'. I don't have the answer, I'm afraid.

Thanks for reinforcing my point cap, despite it being already quite clear.

Yes I am puzzled by the origin of this saying, who first invented that and why....

[Robert602]

Chineese snooker is when you CAN see the object balls but cueing is awkward- the reason being Chinese is backwards, and this is a backwards snooker.

What the feck is that supposed to mean I beg your pardon?

I'm sure no offence was intended, but this does seem the likely origin of the term. Chinese writing is 'backwards' relative to English (and unlike other right-to-left scripts is, for some reason, quite famously so).

As for who coined the term, that is surely lost in the annals of history. I would say that I've heard the word 'Chinese' used to mean backwards in other contexts, disagreeable as it might sound to a modern ear, so it wouldn't be at all surprising to me if there was no more complex a reason than this. I certainly doubt the shot is literally in any way Chinese (in the same way as the Chinaman bowl in cricket), as its use long predates any Chinese snooker players that I know of.

[Cyril]

Clive Everton once gave an explanation in his commentary. He said they do things in reverse in China, for instance, wearing black for occasions of happiness and white in mourning. So in the case of a snooker, instead of snookering behind a ball you snooker in front of it.

[well]

I'm sure no offence was intended, but this does seem the likely origin of the term. Chinese writing is 'backwards' relative to English (and unlike other right-to-left scripts is, for some reason, quite famously so).

As for who coined the term, that is surely lost in the annals of history. I would say that I've heard the word 'Chinese' used to mean backwards in other contexts, disagreeable as it might sound to a modern ear, so it wouldn't be at all surprising to me if there was no more complex a reason than this. I certainly doubt the shot is literally in any way Chinese (in the same way as the Chinaman bowl in cricket), as its use long predates any Chinese snooker players that I know of.

Most insightful, thanks very much. And cheers to anyone who contributed in this thread.

Should be a very old saying anyways, because I think people have been writing from left to right in China for more than half a century now. And before that, they wrote from top to bottom to be exact.

[well]

Clive Everton once gave an explanation in his commentary. He said they do things in reverse in China, for instance, wearing black for occasions of happiness and white in mourning. So in the case of a snooker, instead of snookering behind a ball you snooker in front of it.

Not exactly, black and white both are for mourning, red is the most often seen colour for oaccasions of happiness as in a wedding.

[Sarmu]

Most insightful, thanks very much. And cheers to anyone who contributed in this thread.

Should be a very old saying anyways, because I think people have been writing from left to right in China for more than half a century now. And before that, they wrote from top to bottom to be exact.

top to bottom for each character, but each line is right to left