“To drop the ball” is an American English idiom meaning to make a silly mistake that lets others down, often due to negligence, carelessness, or incompetence. It originated from sports where dropping a ball can cause negative consequences for a team. It can also refer to missing out on an opportunity. The phrase can be used in accusations or apologies. It is unrelated to the New Year’s Eve ball drop in New York City.
“To drop the ball” is an idiom in American English. Someone who “drops the ball” has made a silly mistake, often one that lets others down. The expression usually carries the implication that the person described has made a mistake through negligence, carelessness or incompetence.
The origins of this expression come from sports, although it is not clear exactly which sport. There are several sports where dropping a ball in play can cause negative consequences for a player’s team. In baseball, for example, a fielder who drops a ball won’t be able to throw it back fast enough to catch a runner. Similarly, in soccer, dropping the ball makes possession possible for the opposing team. Both of these situations lend themselves to the analogy in the expression “drop the ball”, that one player’s careless mistake created difficulties for the whole team.
This phrase entered colloquial American English in the mid-20th century. In the 1920s, it was a common expression for a careless mistake. During this period a secondary sense developed, in which “dropping the ball” meant not only making a mistake but actually missing out on some kind of opportunity. It appears to be rarer in British English, which may tend to support the theory that it originated in baseball or football. The connotation of the phrase of missing an opportunity suggests that the expression refers to a player jumping to make a catch, rather than a ball carrier in football, who holds the ball for a longer period.
Like other such expressions, “dropping the ball” can occur equally in accusations and apologies. A teammate or superior might accuse someone of “dropping the ball” and letting others down. Likewise, it’s not uncommon to hear a person who has made a mistake acknowledge it by saying, “I really dropped the ball on this one.”
An alternative use of “drop the ball” is related to New Year’s Eve. In New York City, the New Year is marked by a lighted ball descending from a tree atop One Times Square, counting down the last few seconds of the year. This ball is sometimes said to have fallen, but the two expressions are otherwise unrelated. Similarly, the British English expression “to ball something up” has a similar meaning, being used to describe someone who makes a mistake, but is based on an alternative meaning of “ball”.
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