Wednesday Word: Snig

Jimmy Magee is a master wordsmith when discussing sporting action, but has he ever used today’s ‘Wednesday Word’? It comes courtesy of Diarmaid Ó Muirithe’s fascinating book Words We Don’t Use, based on his popular Irish Times column:

‘Gerry McCarthy of Glasnevin wrote to tell me that snig, noun and verb, is used in a hurling context in east Waterford. It is a one-handed flick with the hurl. Poached goals are got by a snig, and by snigging the ball over the line, often used in terms of flukey scores.

‘I can only hazard a guess as to the origin of Gerry’s word. Would it be the English slang and dialect word, meaning to steal? Kipling has “if you’ve ever snigged the washing from the line”, somewhere.’

One for Jimmy to use in the future?