Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Does love mean anything to you?

February 1, 2015

Portable Table Tennis Set | UncommonGoods

If so, then you are probably a tennis player. And in that case, you also know that tennis has a scoring system that is unique among sports. Perhaps most familiar is the fact that zero points is known as Love. There are various theories about the origin of that strange application of the word, but they all can be traced back to France where the game itself originated. It is possible, for example, that 16th century players colloquially referred to 0 as “the egg” because of its shape. That’s “l’oeuf” in French, which would later be Anglicized to be pronounced “love.” Other people think it’s more likely that the term derives from a period idiom about playing “for the love of the game,” which meant that someone was playing without money wagered on the outcome. Whatever the case, the terminology has made tennis the perfect game for Valentine’s Day, because even if you can’t score you’ve still got Love.

Portable Table Tennis Set, $39.95

No Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.