Language, words, and meanings, within MLB and Eurovision

There’s a nice article on the evolving English language between US English and UK English on BBC News today. The medium is Football (okay, and straight away I need to say ‘Soccer’ for US readers), and the language used by the commentators to describe different facets of the game, and how the US sports broadcasters have their own vocabulary which has no influence from the UK commentators.

It’s something I’ve seen directly around the Eurovision Song Contest. I have a bundle of spreadsheets I use to track country performance in the Contest, with variables such as SPA (Semi Final Placing Average), GPA (Grand Final Points Average), and QR (qualification ratio). There are rather a lot more, but this will be enough to make my point.

For example, pre 2013 Contest, Georgia was QR .800, SPA 7.20, GPA 106.5. That’s great for me when commentating, and its clear that Georgia under-performed this year (with a 2013 SP of 10, and a 2013 GP of 50), but if I hand the spreadsheet over to almost anyone in the Eurovision Press Room, they need a crib sheet to get the names and then a good few minutes of explanation as to the impact.

Show these to an American reporter though, especially one versed in sports such as Major League Baseball, where these look remarkably like batting statistics, and they get it instantly.

We might be one language in word, but in  meaning the continents are very far apart.