sticky wicket (STIK-ee WIK-it) noun

   A difficult, awkward or uncertain situation.

[From cricket, when the ground is partly wet, resulting in the ball
bouncing unpredictably.]

   "British Prime Minister Tony Blair, maneuvering his way through the
   sticky wicket of the Middle East, wanted to stress the need to maintain
   an international coalition."
   William Safire, Fog of War: Von Clausewitz Strikes Again, The New York
   Times Magazine, Nov 18, 2001.

Somehow I wasn't born with the sports gene. Sure, I've played an innings
or two of cricket but that's about it. Since I'm never one to listen to
running commentaries on radio or watch live telecasts on TV, my exchange
with other sports enthusiasts typically goes like this:

Person in the checkout line: So what do you think of last night's
game between the Yankees and the Flying Ducks?
I: Yes.

Well, this sports-challenged temperament doesn't have to stop one from
using the words of sports. There are countless terms from the world of
sports we use metaphorically every day, whether it's when we exhort
someone to "be a sport" or when we chatter about the economy, saying
that it's not dead "by a long shot".

This week's AWAD brings together a few words from the world of cricket,
football, baseball, and other games and sports, that are used in real
life as well.                                                     -Anu


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............................................................................
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
-Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/sticky_wicket.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/sticky_wicket.ram