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 Welcome to The World of Pickleball Vocabulary.





If you are starting to get into pickleball, you will find it impacts parts of your life that you could never have imagined.


One such area is vocabulary.

You will find that your conversation is now peppered with words that no-one other than other pickle-ballers will understand.

In an effort to ease your journey into this brave new world here is a glossary of the most important new words you need to understand.


Newbie - This is a a person that turns up at your regular pickleball session, who everyone pretends they are pleased to welcome in, but then spends the next 2 hours trying to avoid actually playing in case they can't even hit the ball.

Banger - Term that sounds like a compliment but is actually just a way to describe someone who has not been able to master the third shot drop.

Raw Carbon - A term used to so you can look condescendingly at other players as in:  

                        "hey take a look at my new paddle"
                        "Is it raw carbon"
                        "errrm no"
                        With disapproving look "Never mind, I am sure it will be Ok for you"

Skinny Singles - An often confused term that encourages those looking for love to join pickleball only to discover it describes a form of practice that only uses half of the court.

Dinner -   (Dink+ Winner) A winning dink shot   -  (note: if you need to ask what "dink" is then you are playing the wrong game)


Kitchen - A place that men try to avoid (and women too)


Pedicure - Hitting your opponent's foot
Manicure - Hitting your opponent's hand
Full Wax - You get the idea !!

Stacking - A doubles strategy designed to confuse everyone playing on who should be standing where.

Body Shot - A shot hit with pace that hits your opponent hard causing you to instantly say "sorry" but inside you are actually congratulating yourself with a clenched fist pump.

Pickled - I have no idea what this means - it has never happened to me ;-)   (OK its when you lose a game to zero!)

Indoor ball - a pickleball with 26 holes ....or is it 40?
Outdoor ball - a pickleball with 40 holes ..... or is it 26?

Zerozerotwo - Dont worry about what is means, just say it at the start of every game.

5.0 - A person to be revered if he/she ever attends your regular session (aka - pickleball royalty)

Replay - A nice/subtle way to call your opponent a liar after they called your shot out even though it was obviously in.

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