Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

jumpers for goalposts

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.52 in modern English

Syllables: jumper-s -for -goal-posts
IPA

36

Scrabble Score

19

Letters

5

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

phrase

Informal association football as played by children, especially as a romantic or old-fashioned ideal contrasted against the commercialism and cynicism of modern professional football.

British usage

Example Sentences

"There is a strong, and understandable, tendency to romanticise a jumpers-for-goalposts golden age when football pitches looked like the battlefields of Flanders, assorted firms and crews spent their Saturday evenings trashing railway carriages and multi-millionaire players, bloodsucking investors and a globalised Manchester United had yet to ruin our lives."
"In the next section we discuss the notion of 'jumpers for goalposts' in the United Kingdom, and how the modern notion of this, under different constraints, has emerged through activities such as cage football, mixed groups, playing against different ages, and so on."
"Fortunate to have open fields in front of her house , Paula and the boys from the estate would gather for the timeless routine of 'jumpers for goalposts', team selections, and games that only paused when mothers called them in for tea."

Etymology

From the idea that children, in the absence of a proper pitch, will mark one using items of clothing (such as jumpers).

Usage

British usage

Questions

What does jumpers for goalposts mean?: Informal association football as played by children, especially as a romantic or old-fashioned ideal contrasted against the commercialism and cynicism of modern professional football.
Where does jumpers for goalposts come from?: From the idea that children, in the absence of a proper pitch, will mark one using items of clothing (such as jumpers).

How to pronounce jumpers for goalposts

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