Big B shares light-hearted take on life’s ‘speed breakers’ and ‘sixers’
Amitabh Bachchan reflected on how everyday speech borrows from cars and cricket, citing phrases like “speed breaker,” “green light,” “bouncer,” and “sixer” to highlight language’s evolving, playful connection with sport and road metaphors
Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan reflected on the curious ways in which everyday language borrows from cars and cricket, observing how common expressions often stem from the world of sport and the road.
Taking to his blog, Amitabh shared a motley of phrases used in daily life, such as hard work has “hit a speed breaker” to “pressing the accelerator” when picking up pace, or “putting the brakes on” at the first sign of trouble. “So much still to learn and understand .. each moment shifts gears so to say .. ( why the heck do we always give similes related to a car, or games ) .. !! ‘my work and hard work has come upon with a speed breaker,’ ‘i was trundling along quite well, but decided to speed up, so pressed the accelerator’, ‘when i sense trouble, i just put my brakes on’.”
He also pointed to expressions like “running out of gas” when energy dips and not appreciating “backseat driving” when unsolicited opinions come in. “I just got a green light for my venture, and took off,” he wrote.
Drawing parallels with cricketing terms, the thespian mentioned how remarks such as “that was a bouncer” when something goes over one’s head, “well left” when choosing not to engage, or calling an achievement a “sixer” have seamlessly become part of common speech. ” ‘ok ! so that was a bouncer’ (the ball that is bowled going above the head of the batsman – so what was said just went above my head .. could not understand ) ‘well left ..’ (did not attempt to put bat to ball, and allowed the ball to go past batsman in crease, in cricket terms .. a decisive decision for not getting involved, in what was suggested ) ‘O boy that’s a sixer !’ ( in cricket when the batsman hits the ball beyond the boundary of the playing field, without a bounce , six runs a max – your achievement was incredible ) and similarly .. bowled .. self goal.. hit wicket .. run out ..” “The vocabulary of the human .. how it was developed and how it keeps maturing day in day out ..Ok Ef .. ! retired hurt .. !!!! going for a (nap emoji).
