A Slice in Golf Curves the Wrong Way
A slice is a thin flat piece cut from something. In golf it names a shot that curves sharply off line.
A slice is a thin flat piece cut from something larger. Sport borrowed the word for a shot that curves: a golfer's slice bends right for a right-hander because the clubface cuts across the ball, imparting sidespin. In tennis a slice is deliberate backspin. The image is of the racket or club cutting across rather than through. *A slice of life* means a realistic portrayal of ordinary experience, a phrase from French naturalist theatre, *tranche de vie*.
- A thin cut piece. *A slice of bread.*
- To cut into slices. *Slice the onion.*
- A curving golf shot. *A bad slice.*
- Backspin in tennis. *A slice backhand.*
- Old French — *esclice*, a splinter. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | slice | A slice. |
| Plural | slices | Slices. |
| Verb | slice | Slice it. |
| Agent | slicer | A slicer. |
| Adjective | sliced | Sliced bread. |
- Cut a thin slice of lemon.Food.
- He sliced his drive into the trees.Golf.
- A slice of life in the city.Idiom.
Slice in phrases
- A slice of the action — a share in a venture
- A slice of life — a realistic portrayal of the everyday
- The best thing since sliced bread — a great innovation, from 1928
- Slice through — to move easily through resistance
- Any way you slice it — however you look at it
Old French *esclice*, a splinter or fragment, from *esclicier*, to splinter, from a Frankish source.
Why is a golf shot called a slice?
Because the clubface cuts across the ball rather than striking it squarely, adding sidespin that curves the flight.
Where does a slice of life come from?
From French naturalist theatre of the 1890s, tranche de vie, meaning a realistic scene of ordinary experience.