This podcast series explains the language of football, and this short episode looks at the phrase ‘to shine’. There is a transcript of the show below, and you also access our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the […] The post Learn English Through Football: (to) Shine appeared first on Learn English Through Football.
This podcast series explains the language of football, and this short episode looks at the phrase ‘to shine’. There is a transcript of the show below, and you also access our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students, too. Try a gap-fill activity for example. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Learn English Through Football: (to) Shine
DB: Hi there, everyone. Thanks for tuning in to languagecaster.com, the podcast and website for all those interested in the language of football. My name’s Damon and I’m podcasting from a sunny but chilly Tokyo. I hope you have been enjoying the start to 2023 wherever you are. I’m sure Damian, the other half of the Languagecaster team in London, has enjoyed the last few days. His team Tottenham had an impressive win over Crystal Palace, so Damian, being a Tottenham Hotspur fan will have enjoyed that! Not so good for my side Liverpool, however. They slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Brentford.
Anyway, back to the language of football. So far this year, we have looked at the football phrases a tidy player and fightback. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast to get all the episodes. Today, I’ll talk about the football language phrase – to shine.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Mongolian)
To Shine
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was in Mongolian.
Right, today, we’re looking at the phrase ‘to shine’, which is used to describe a player’s performance. The verb to shine means to be bright like a light or the sun, but also it means to perform well. So, in football if a player shines, they perform well in their team. They stand out because they have played so well.
Here is a headline from The Guardian highlighting Marcus Rashford’s performance against Everton: Marcus Rashford shines in Manchester United’s FA Cup win over Everton. Now, we wouldn’t usually use a phrase like ‘Player A shone in the game last night‘ in a chat with friends about a player. ‘Player A had a great game, didn’t he/she!‘, would be more normal. So using the verb to shine is mostly used in reports or report headlines. Here is another example from Marca on Harry Kane: Harry Kane shines as Tottenham thrash Everton.
So these headlines give us two common headline patterns.
* Pattern 1: Player A shines in (match). And…
* Pattern 2: Player A shines as Team A beat/overcome/thrash Team B.
To Outshine
A slight change and we can have the verb to outshine, and this means to play better than another player. For example, Messi outshone Christiano Ronaldo at the 2022 World Cup. Messi was more successful, had more impact, and generally played better than the Portuguese star. This is how the The Full Time Whistle describes it: The boy from Rosario has outshone the ...