Almanac Cricket: ‘Soda’

 

 

‘Soda’

 

What on earth is a soda?

 

As in, Captain Mitchell Marsh put down an absolute soda which gifted Hardik Pandya a life on four (Ben Horne, The Advertiser).
While it is not the most unfathomable statement written in that particular day’s fish and chips wrapper, it is intriguing nevertheless. I’ve heard it before, in a cricket context, about a fieldsman dropping an easy catch.
Head makes Tharanga pay for dropping ‘a soda’ (excited commentator on CA video)
There it is again.

 

I get it. It’s an easy dropped catch.
But what does the term actually mean and what is its derivation?
My first foray into the Google world of simple searches brought forth adverts relating to a brand of vodka – Absolut soda.
I then hit the link to the Urban dictionary and discovered this:
Soda  (noun):  An easy catch, also sitter, gimme, dolly
Well, I understand these terms. Except for dolly. Where does ‘dolly’ come from?

 

OK. A soda is an easy catch dropped by a fielder – supposedly when said fielder is standing immobile, either looking to the heavens in the outfield or standing closer to the wicket with eyes widening as the ball approaches. Is it still a soda, or more or less of a soda, if the fielder is off balance and the ball bobbles about as it is grasped, then fumbled, then grasped, then fumbled again as the ball bobs precariously up as if pushed by a burst of invisible rising soda bubbles?

 

I then checked something called Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) and found several references to the use of the term ‘soda’.
I also discovered that it is derived from the card game Faro, a french gambling game from the 1890s. Now, where is Shane Warne when you need him?  In Faro jargon, the soda (said to be a corruption of ‘zodiac’) is the top card that is exposed face up before bets are made at the start of the game. This card is not counted for betting.

 

Well, now I’m none the wiser.

 

However, the Sydney J Baker Popular Dictionary of Australian Slang (1941) defines the word as,
(1) (of a person) one who is an easy or suitable subject for exploitation.
(2) something easily done.
That makes more sense, although dropping a soda can often be made to look extremely difficult.
Thus:    he/she’s dropped a soda = he/she’s turfed a monty.
Monty, now where does that come from?

 

Addendum:
Went to the SACA members forum this morning. Put in my two bob’s worth and felt a whole lot better. At the forum a current first-class cricketer talked of a bowler “bowling some wheels” and of a batter who can “smack it to cow”. I will seek clarification.

 

 

More from Peter Crossing Here

 

 

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