034 Behind the eight ball

Behind the eight ball

 

(PW) in trouble

My department is late on its dealine. We are behind the eight ball.

 

(MW)

behind the eight ball : in a highly disadvantageous position

 

(freedictionary)

behind the eight ball 

1. Fig. in trouble; in a weak or losing position. (Alludes to the eight ball in pool, which in certain games cannot be touched without penalty. *Typically: be ~; get ~; have someone ~; put someone ~.) I'm behind the eight ball again and can't see how to relieve my dilemma. John is behind the eight ball because he started writing his term paper far too late.

2. Fig. broke. Sorry, I'm really behind the eight ball this month. I can't make a contribution. (*Typically: be ~; get ~; have someone ~; put someone ~.) I was behind the eight ball again and couldn't make my car payment.

 

behind the eight ball

in a difficult situation Simpson's thoughtless remarks put him behind the eight ball, and many people thought he should resign.

Etymology: from the game of pool (a game played on a special table with sticks and numbered balls), in which you do not want to have any ball positioned behind the black ball marked with a number 8

 

(UrbanDictionary)

In a bad situation, in a losing position.

The phrase comes from pool (or billiards). When the cue (white) ball is behind the eight (black) ball, a player usually has no shot.

I'm really behind the eight ball at work. I have too much work to do but we can't afford to hire anyone to help out.

 

(yourdictionary)

behind the eight ball idiom

In trouble or an awkward position, out of luck, as in His check bounced, leaving Jim behind the eight ball with his landlord. The term comes from pocket billiards or pool, where in certain games if the number eight ball is between the “cue ball” and “object ball” the player cannot make a straight shot. [Colloquial; c. 1920]

 

(thePhraseFinder)

Meaning

A difficult position from which it is unlikely one can escape.

Origin

There is dispute about the origin of this phrase. Some say that it derives from the Eight Ball version of the game of pool. The balls are numbered and must be potted in order. A turn is forfeited if a player's cue ball hits the (black) eight ball first and the game is forfeited if the eight ball is potted by mistake. A 'behind the eight ball' position leaves a player in a difficult position. There is little agreement about when the game began to be played with eight balls, or when it was first called Eight Ball.

Another version is that the term derives from the game of Kelly Pool, in which players are allocated one of 16 balls to pot and the players with the lower numbered balls play first. Those players that are given balls higher than eight are unlikely to win the game. This second supposed derivation carries less plausibility, as:

- It would make just as much sense to say 'behind the seven/nine etc. ball' and no such phrases have ever entered the language.
- Also, the context of that explanation would suggest that the phrase would have been coined as 'after the eighth ball' (and the eighth ball isn't named as the eight ball in Kelly Pool) rather than 'behind the eight ball'.
- Also, also, the phrase means (and is documented as meaning, as early as 1931 in the New York Times), 'in a tight spot', not 'unlikely to win', which is a quite different meaning.

However, as we often find, plausibility isn't everything and further research may prove the case one way or the other. Clearly, a citation of the use of the phrase before the the use of an eight ball in the game we now call Eight Ball pool would rule that out as the origin.

Of course, there may be some altogether unrelated source. There is a game called Eight-ball Croquet, for instamce, and that predates both of the above forms of pool/billiards. The eight ball isn't specifically named in that game, so it is difficult to see how the phrase might have originated there.

All of the early known citations of the phrase are American. It dates from the early 20th century - the earliest citation that I can find is from the Wisconsin newspaper The Sheboygan Press, December 1929:

"Bill ['Lucky' Bill McKechnie, manager of the Boston Braves] figures he can finish behind the eight ball with any kind of a ball team, so there'sno harm in trying out young talent as there's nothing to lose beyond last place."

The precise date of the coining of the phrase isn't knwon. It is a fact that it appears in print many times in American newspapers from December 1929 onwards. I can find no uses of the phrase prior to that date.

'Behind The Eight Ball' was used in the title of a biography of 'Minnesota Fats' - the stage name of the pool player Rudolph Wanderone. That was rather an optimistic title, as Wanderone was by all accounts a much better self-publicist than ever he was a pool player. He played some televised demonstration matches against Willie Mosconi, who beat him easily.