Pool glossary
English
Sidespin applied to the cue ball.
What it means
Striking the cue ball left or right of centre to make it spin sideways, changing how it comes off a cushion and how it deflects on contact. British players call it side.
Where the word comes from
Nineteenth-century American name for a technique popularised by English players. The English, naturally, do not call it that.
How it sounds at a table
"Bit of left hand English to come off the rail."
What it means in a three-strikes night
A practical note rather than a technique lesson: on an unfamiliar bar box with a heavy or scuffed cue ball, english does less than you expect and deflects more. In a format where you get one shot a turn, the cost of being wrong about that is a life. Centre-ball on a strange table is almost always the percentage play.
The mistake people make
Using english to get shape when a simpler shot and a worse leave would still have pocketed the ball. In three strikes the leave barely matters — the table passes on anyway.
Terms that come up alongside it
Written out rather than linked only, because looking up one term usually means you are standing at a table and do not want four more taps.
- Draw
- Backspin that pulls the cue ball back after contact. Striking below centre so the cue ball spins backwards, reversing after it hits the object ball.
- Kick
- The cue ball off a cushion first. A kick shot sends the cue ball into a cushion before it contacts the object ball.
- Bank
- An object ball played off a cushion before it drops. A bank shot sends the object ball into one or more cushions on its way to the pocket.
- Bar box
- A coin-operated seven-foot table. The small coin-op table found in most bars — seven feet, tighter than a nine-footer in every dimension, with a ball return that keeps the cue ball separate so it can be returned after a scratch..
Where it comes up
English matters most in three-strikes pool, where a single turn is one shot and the cost of getting something wrong is a life rather than a visit to the table. If you are learning the game, the guide to running a night puts most of this vocabulary in context, and the format pages show which games the term applies to and which it does not.