A Brace - What's all this about?

[kingcole]

With our own Barnsey getting 2 in successive games, it made me think.

Until very recently, I have never even heard of this phrase.

In my book, you either scored a goal, got 2, or got a hatrick.

Am I right, is this word new, or am I wrong?

 

[magoo]

He has a brace of braces. 2 goals has always been called that.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Its been going as long as i can remember in football terms.Is is something to do with pheasants?

 

[Gwylan]

Football reports have had strikers (or forwards as they were then called) grabbing a brace since the 60s at least - and probably well before, but I'm not that old.

It's from shooting. Two birds is a brace.

 

[Ned]

From The oxford dictionary onkine see bit in red
It is an old hunting term (quite apt for a goal poacher?)


http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0097740#m_en_gb0097740




Pronunciation:/breɪs/
noun

*
1 a device fitted to something, in particular a weak or injured part of the body, to give support:a neck brace
*
a strengthening piece of iron or timber used in building or carpentry
*
(also braces)a wire device fitted in the mouth to straighten the teeth
*
(also brace and bit)a drilling tool with a crank handle and a socket to hold a bit
*
a rope attached to the yard of a ship for trimming the sail
*
2 (braces) British a pair of straps that pass over the shoulders and fasten to the top of trousers at the front and back to hold them up
*
3 (plural same)a pair of something, typically of birds or mammals killed in hunting:thirty brace of grouse
*
4 Printingeither of the two marks { and }, used either to indicate that two or more items on one side have the same relationship as each other to the single item to which the other side points , or in pairs to show that words between them are connected
*
Musica similar mark connecting staves to be performed at the same time

verb

*
[with object] make (a structure) stronger or firmer with wood, iron, or other forms of support:the posts were braced by lengths of timber
*
press (one‘s body or part of one’s body) firmly against something in order to stay balanced:she braced her feet against a projecting shelf he stood with legs braced
*
prepare (someone) for something difficult or unpleasant:both stations are bracing themselves for job losses

Phrasal Verbs

brace up
be strong or courageous:she was about to tell him to brace up

Origin:

Middle English (as a verb meaning ‘clasp, fasten tightly’): from Old French bracier 'embrace', from brace 'two arms', from Latin bracchia, plural of bracchium 'arm', from Greek brakhiōn

 

[Helen Chamberlains Quim]

Collloquially a brace would be one of each gender of game bird so a true brace mighty be considered a left foot and right foot goal. Much in the same way a perfect hatrick might be considered left foot, right foot, headed.

HCQ

 

[drew]

With our own Barnsey getting 2 in successive games, it made me think.

Until very recently, I have never even heard of this phrase.

In my book, you either scored a goal, got 2, or got a hatrick.

Am I right, is this word new, or am I wrong?

Are you one of those teenagers things that other thread was about?

 

[kingcole]

Nope a 40 year old dad of 2. It was my 10 year old lad who brought the phrase to my attention. Honestly have not hard it before this (or maybe last) season.

Hey ho

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

If a brace is two, why do a pair of braces not have four straps?

I think we should be told

 

[zeemeeuw]

Collloquially a brace would be one of each gender of game bird so a true brace mighty be considered a left foot and right foot goal. Much in the same way a perfect hatrick might be considered left foot, right foot, headed.

HCQ

Except it comes from a French word meaning the length of two arms, so maybe it should be used for two handball goals, left and right.

 

[sam86]

Well old, innit.

 

[Igor Gurinovich?]

not new, not new at all, been around as long as i can recall...

 

[Fungus]

If a brace is two, why do a pair of braces not have four straps?

I think we should be told

They have four clips.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

I'd never heard of it either.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

They have four clips.

Forks don't have lips, they have tines

 

[countrygull]

Unfortunately such phrases creep in when commentators or reporters feel the need to use different terms to describe events in football matches. They lose the first basic rule of broadcast journalism which is to be conversational. Hence we have such rubbish as a brace, a shotstopper, bagging a goal, converting a penalty and a host of other inanities which no right minded person would use in conversation.
And breathe....

 

[Vankleek Hill Seagull]

Forks don't have lips, they have tines

 

[fataddick]

I learnt to read in 1973 and every match report I've ever read where someone scored two goals has called it a brace.

 

[arfer guinness]

I thought everyone knew of a brace of pheasants, so surely it's not hard to work out a brace is 2.

 

[Trufflehound]

Forks don't have lips, they have tines

You're not prong there.