Vol.12,
No.70, 2009 Wacky Words of Curling by Alison McEvoy Murray
Throwing the
h a m m e r ,
getting over the
hogline, sweeping
rocks - what kind
of game uses terms like this? If you
have never played the game of curling
(and I don’t mean your hair), you have
probably never heard these words.
Curling consists of two teams of four
people. The two teams slide “rocks”
over an ice surface toward a target
circle. The players use brooms to help
the rocks glide. The team that gets its
rocks closest to the centre of the target
wins. But what do some of these crazy
terms mean?
Throw the Hammer and score!
(hopefully)
Throwing the hammer means having
last rock, which is an advantage. The
four players on both teams alternate
throwing two rocks each. The skip, or
captain, of the team with last rock has
the chance to pick up a point or points
for his team, or rink. If the rink with
the last rock does not score, the other
team steals the points they earn. The
rink that scores throws the first rock
on the next end.
Get the rock over the hogline
The hogline is a line at each end of the
ice. Arock must cross this line, but not
go across the back line behind the
house to stay in play. If a curler does
not let his rock go before the hog line,
the rock is disqualified. At
professional tournaments, there is an
electronic chip in the handle of the
rock that will signal to officials if the
rock has passed the hogline. Before
this technology, the official needed an
eagle eye.
Sweep, sweep (that rock) hard,
HARD
You get to sweep a rock when you are
not the person throwing it. The skip
does not sweep rocks because he is the
captain and needs to hold the broom to
place the shots and judge if a rock
coming down the ice needs sweeping.
If you hear your skip calling for you to
sweep a rock hard, he wants you to
really put all your strength into it. That
rock needs help! Maybe it’s not going
to get over the hogline. Uh-oh.
Throw a rock into the house
This is one time when throwing a rock
into a house is a good thing! Any other
time you might get chased down the
street by your neighbour. The house is
the target. There is one at each end of
the ice. It consists of three circles with
a total diameter of 12 feet. The centre
of the circle is called the button. The
rock closest to the button scores a
point.
So now that you know some curling terms, why not join a rink and see how
much fun the game really is. You
never know when you might get to
sweep (hard) the hammer!
Memory Quiz
Here’s a short quiz to see how many
curling terms you can remember.
1. The hammer is the:
a) last rock of the end
b) something your dad threw the last
time he hit his thumb with it
c) a large SUV
2. The house consists of:
a) straw
b) sticks
c) three circles with a diameter of
twelve feet
3. The hogline is:
a) where this little pig went to market
b) the line the rock must cross to stay
in play
c) the name of the Three Little Pigs’
favourite line dance
