Office conversation here at the Macquarie Dictionary has been taken over by soccer (or is it football?), and with it has come a whole host of new terms and slang. It was limbs, or very celebratory, when Australia made it out of the group stage, despite many accusing the team of playing highly defensive anti-football. Other teams are celebrating too, with the Norwegian teams joining their fans in a Viking row celebration. It hasn’t all been happy though, aside from losses, fans aren’t so happy about the controversial new hydration breaks.
limbs
As with a lot of football slang, limbs originated in the English football world. It refers to moments of such excitement in the crowd that spectators throw their arms in the air, jump to their feet, cheer, flail, and generally erupt into ebullient chaos. With the dramatic increase in interest in the game with the ongoing World Cup, the word seems to be catching on outside the British football world.
anti-football
Anti-football refers to a highly defensive style of play, in which the goal is to prevent goals and run out the clock, relying on events such as penalties and corners to score. It’s also been referred to as parking the bus, or much more recently, haramball, due to the sentiment that it is against the spirit of the game and should be avoided.
Viking row
The Norwegian football fans, and more recently the team itself, have been celebrating their successes at this year’s World Cup with a homage to their Viking history. The Viking row, in which players and fans mime rowing a boat, leaning forwards and backwards in time with the beat of a drum, has captured the attention of viewers around the world. The trend has been around for some time in rave and EDM culture, but has truly broken out onto the world stage this World Cup.
hydration break
On the surface, a term like this usually wouldn’t be considered for the dictionary, as it is ‘transparent’. It’s a break where players hydrate. However, the new addition to the game in this year’s World Cup has proven controversial for a number of reasons. Primarily, it is seen as a thinly veiled extra commercial break halfway through each match half. While it might seem out of place on this list, we’re keeping an eye out to see if the lack of support for the new breaks leads to a sarcastic use of the term to refer to other perceived excuses for advertisement.
