Naa-Naa Na-Boo-Boo, You Can't Get Me
February 16, 2010 4:25 PM Subscribe
Is there a specific word for that situation where someone is trying to "get" you, like in a game of tag, but you can maneuver an obstacle between them and you, such that they can't get you because you always move to keep the obstacle between them and you?
It's like when you're playing tag and the person who is It is chasing you and you run around a parked car in circles. Eventually you stop, staring at each other across the car. It goes left, you go right. It goes right, you go left. Trying to climb or lunge over the top would be too slow & cumbersome.
It's not limited to the game of tag, of course. Maybe there's a term for it in the language of a martial art. You see it in movies where one character is trying to physically assault another, or in a playful game of keepaway between childhood sweethearts chasing each other around a tree, perhaps.
It's a stalemate. It's similar to kiting in that you can use an obstacle when kiting, but I feel like some culture, somewhere has a name for this specific situation. What could it be?
It's like when you're playing tag and the person who is It is chasing you and you run around a parked car in circles. Eventually you stop, staring at each other across the car. It goes left, you go right. It goes right, you go left. Trying to climb or lunge over the top would be too slow & cumbersome.
It's not limited to the game of tag, of course. Maybe there's a term for it in the language of a martial art. You see it in movies where one character is trying to physically assault another, or in a playful game of keepaway between childhood sweethearts chasing each other around a tree, perhaps.
It's a stalemate. It's similar to kiting in that you can use an obstacle when kiting, but I feel like some culture, somewhere has a name for this specific situation. What could it be?
I've never heard a term for that specific activity, but if I found myself in the middle of it, I'd call it a Mexican standoff.
In my part of the country that means you're simultaneously pointing guns at each other. Why Mexican? I have no idea.
posted by kestralwing at 4:35 PM on February 16, 2010
In my part of the country that means you're simultaneously pointing guns at each other. Why Mexican? I have no idea.
posted by kestralwing at 4:35 PM on February 16, 2010
In chess it's called "stalemate".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:39 PM on February 16, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:39 PM on February 16, 2010
In basketball and other sports, its called a "screen" or a "pick." Not exactly what you're referring to, but in the same general class.
posted by googly at 4:49 PM on February 16, 2010
posted by googly at 4:49 PM on February 16, 2010
The term juke is used to sports when you make a move that disorients the oponant.
He went right, I went left -- he juked me real bad!
posted by nitsuj at 4:59 PM on February 16, 2010
He went right, I went left -- he juked me real bad!
posted by nitsuj at 4:59 PM on February 16, 2010
In basketball and other sports, its called a "screen" or a "pick." Not exactly what you're referring to, but in the same general class.
More specifically, as it relates to the question, a moving pick. (last hash mark on video)
posted by mreleganza at 5:26 PM on February 16, 2010
More specifically, as it relates to the question, a moving pick. (last hash mark on video)
posted by mreleganza at 5:26 PM on February 16, 2010
If the object's moving I would say it's "running interference." I think that term comes from sports -- American football, maybe?
posted by Rash at 5:57 PM on February 16, 2010
posted by Rash at 5:57 PM on February 16, 2010
Forgive the pedantry, but this situation is not analogous to a stalemate in chess. A stalemate is a specific category of draw where a player, on his turn, has no legal moves available (and is not in check). The described situation would lead to a draw by a different rule (three-fold repetition of position, or possibly the fifty-move rule).
posted by kprincehouse at 6:04 PM on February 16, 2010
posted by kprincehouse at 6:04 PM on February 16, 2010
I was also going to suggest pick. From Ultimate, where it's an illegal play.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:19 PM on February 16, 2010
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:19 PM on February 16, 2010
Feint? Is probably more aggressive than just avoidance maneuvers, though ...
posted by bebrave! at 6:58 PM on February 16, 2010
posted by bebrave! at 6:58 PM on February 16, 2010
I'd call it a Mexican standoff.
No need to use a movie trope. This is in fact the definition of a standoff.
In military terms, both parties are using an "existing obstacle" (as opposed to a "reinforcing obstacle", such as a fortification), and trying to flank each other using the obstacle as an anchor. Since both parties in tag are humans with roughly equivalent capability, the situation is referred to as a strategic balance.
kprincehouse, the chess term stalemate -- assuming the balance holds and nobody gets tired or manages to fake the other out -- has had military application since at least WWI, when it was applied to the consequences of the Schlieffen Plan on the Western Front, and would be appropriate.
posted by dhartung at 7:19 PM on February 16, 2010 [2 favorites]
No need to use a movie trope. This is in fact the definition of a standoff.
In military terms, both parties are using an "existing obstacle" (as opposed to a "reinforcing obstacle", such as a fortification), and trying to flank each other using the obstacle as an anchor. Since both parties in tag are humans with roughly equivalent capability, the situation is referred to as a strategic balance.
kprincehouse, the chess term stalemate -- assuming the balance holds and nobody gets tired or manages to fake the other out -- has had military application since at least WWI, when it was applied to the consequences of the Schlieffen Plan on the Western Front, and would be appropriate.
posted by dhartung at 7:19 PM on February 16, 2010 [2 favorites]
dhartung seems to have ana actual answer, but I would think of this as a mutation of the baseball pickle.
posted by cmoj at 9:22 AM on February 17, 2010
posted by cmoj at 9:22 AM on February 17, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Catseye at 4:34 PM on February 16, 2010 [3 favorites]