Bad day... My Mr Rearden has just started behaving like Mr Boyle (Holmes and Moriarty respectively for you British out there).

So it falls to me to research the word 'english' (with a small e) : an American noun to describe spin on a ball particularly in pool. In Britain, the noun used is side, top or bottom depending on where the cue strikes the ball. and the verb: to screw (as the ball wriggles and writhes after impact as it starts to get a grip on the felt). I can hear you philistines giggling already - be quiet!

So, why the use of the word? It all dates back to Englishman Jack Carr - of Mr Bartley's Billiard Rooms at Bath. Carr discovered that chalk, added to the leather tips that were used by Frenchman Mingaud, allowed improved control of the ball. He was quite a showman and traveled around Europe during the 1820s, giving demos and selling his "twisting chalk" for half a crown a box (approx 12.5p or 7c). Others who have helped cement the use of the word:
- Phelan in 1850 "we can out english the English".
- Slosson on Schaefer in 1879 - "he has english like the English".
- Twain of Hoppe's win in 1906 "if only his english were spoken".
- Bush on Churchill "he was english".

God save spin.