# What's the origin of the word "rick" meaning mistake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650 "2004-09-23T10:07:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/1 "2004-09-23T10:07:34Z")
Does anyone know where the word “rick”, meaning a mistake or blunder, comes from? I’m not sure if it is used outside the UK — or even very widely even here. I’ve mostly seen it used in relation to gambling, for instance if someone has inadvertently placed a large ante-post bet on a horse that’s withdrawn that afternoon, or gone all-in with a junk hand playing poker, you might say they’ve “made a rick”. I’ve heard it used in relation to sporting blunders, too. Anyone have a clue? Or, at least, has anyone else _heard_ the expression used? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/2 "2004-09-23T10:13:54Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Does anyone know where the word “rick”, meaning a mistake or blunder, comes from? I’m not sure if it is used outside the UK — or even very widely even here. I’ve mostly seen it used in relation to gambling, for instance if someone has inadvertently placed a large ante-post bet on a horse that’s withdrawn that afternoon, or gone all-in with a junk hand playing poker, you might say they’ve “made a rick”. I’ve heard it used in relation to sporting blunders, too. > > Anyone have a clue? Or, at least, has anyone else _heard_ the expression used? Is it an example of ‘Ronglish’? “That goalkeeper looks like he’s got a Rick in him” Sounds like it _could_ be from Big Ron ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/3 "2004-09-23T10:16:52Z")
Aha!! [Linky](http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=%2Fsport%2F2004%2F04%2F08%2Fsfntv08.xml) > [@](#): > > He kept insisting Lehmann was a mistake waiting to happen. Though the master of Ronglish didn’t quite put it like that. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/4 "2004-09-23T10:17:57Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > Aha!! > > [Linky](http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=%2Fsport%2F2004%2F04%2F08%2Fsfntv08.xml) grumble grumble - the rest of the quote is > [@](#): > > “We said he had a rick in him and that, for me, is a rick,” Atkinson announced as Lehmann patted Claude Makelele’s long shot into Frank Lampard’s path for the Chelsea equaliser. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/5 "2004-09-23T10:35:47Z")
Nice sighting (see also [the official Ronglish site](http://www.dangerhere.com/ronglish.htm), although “rick” doesn’t seem to make an appearance). Surely Big Ron didn’t invent the word though? Incidentally, for Americans and others not au fait with the phrase, “Ronglish” is the particular brand of English used by one-time football manager and now (sadly disgraced) TV pundit [Ron Atkinson](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3648471.stm). A master of the incomprehensible but nonetheless entertaining and enlightening précis of the game: “Tell you what, I know Big Quinny’s lightning slow but he was JCBing it there. Reckon I’ve seen the QE2 turn faster and the big lad’s gone in the box in installments.” (see the Ronglish link above for a rough translation) ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/6 "2004-09-23T10:50:45Z")
Here’s another possibility for you then **Colophon** [This](http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-14-2002-22398.asp?viewPage=2) article contains the following quote > [@](#): > > It was Nicklaus, of course, who last drove into Muirfield with the Masters and US Open trophies already locked up, the grand slam beckoning. He reflects now that back in the high summer of 1972 he was ‘more excited than nervous’ and still regrets that he was so relaxed that he enjoyed a long and deep night’s sleep early that week in Scotland. It was so long and so deep that he woke with a rick in his neck that restricted his power for the first three rounds. In the end he finished second to Trevino, which was not a bad effort but which represented colossal, and enduring, failure forNicklaus. Makes it sound like a rick is a muscle tightness or something that impedes your performance. I’m sure that growing up I always said “crick in my neck” but i quite possibly had it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/7 "2004-09-23T14:33:37Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > Here’s another possibility for you then **Colophon** > > [This](http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-14-2002-22398.asp?viewPage=2) article contains the following quote > > Makes it sound like a rick is a muscle tightness or something that impedes your performance. > > I’m sure that growing up I always said “crick in my neck” but i quite possibly had it wrong. Interesting find – “crick in the neck” is absolutely the widespread American usage. “Rick”, in the sense of “blunder”, is virtually unknown in the U.S. It would fall into the same class of obscurity as British terms like “skint” (cf. American English “broke”). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/8 "2004-09-23T15:01:45Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > Here’s another possibility for you then **Colophon** > > [This](http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-14-2002-22398.asp?viewPage=2) article contains the following quote > > Makes it sound like a rick is a muscle tightness or something that impedes your performance. > > I’m sure that growing up I always said “crick in my neck” but i quite possibly had it wrong. My dictionary lists “rick” as a noun meaning “a wrench or sprain, as of the back”, and a verb meaning to cause such an injury. I have certainly heard it used in the expression “I’ve ricked my back.” I’m not sure how this relates to rick = mistake, though. I can’t really see the connection. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/9 "2004-09-23T15:04:57Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > My dictionary lists “rick” as a noun meaning “a wrench or sprain, as of the back”, and a verb meaning to cause such an injury. I have certainly heard it used in the expression “I’ve ricked my back.” > > I’m not sure how this relates to rick = mistake, though. I can’t really see the connection. I’ve only heard it used in sporting related mistakes so i suppose it could be meaning he made the mistake due to ‘having a rick’ but I admit it’s a tenuous connection at best ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-rick-meaning-mistake/265650/10 "2004-09-24T00:29:03Z")
::: looks in room::: Huh? What? Somebody call? 😕 ::: Walks out of room confused:::