Hard: Throw in the towel

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase throw in the towel. 

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name's Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I'm Jack. We're here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is hard so we're looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is: to throw in the towel.

Jack: To throw in the towel is an idiom that means to give up or give in - to stop playing because you don't think you can win or you've had enough.

Rich: Yes, it means to admit defeat. The phrase comes from boxing originally. The boxer's trainer literally throws his towel into the boxing ring to say that his boxer wants to stop the fight.

Jack: In boxing, throwing in the towel is admitting defeat and nothing more. It's not really a negative thing - it just means you've lost the fight.

Rich: In football and other team sports it is much more negative as using this idiom indicates that the team has stopped trying.

Jack: Have a listen to this conversation:

Rich: I heard about the result. Not a good day at the office, hey?

Jack: Not a good day at the office - that's a bit of an understatement. OK, they were the better team but we just threw in the towel in the second half.

Rich: 10-0 is a bit of a disaster.

Jack: A bit of a disaster? They just stopped trying. It was only 3-0 at half-time. It wasn't good but at least it was respectable. Like I say, they just threw in the towel - it was embarrassing to watch.

Rich: So, using the phrase, to throw in the towel, in a non-literal way is much more negative than its original use in boxing.

Jack: And it can be used generally, to speak about lots of other things. Maybe you're writing something you can't finish, maybe you're trying to lose a bit of weight, maybe you're working super hard to get a promotion at work …

Rich: What would you say to these people, Jack?

Jack: I'd tell them to throw in the towel - no, only joking, I'd tell them not to chuck in the towel. I'd encourage them and tell them not to give up.

Rich: Good to know and good to know that you can chuck in the towel as well as throw it!

Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We'll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Discuss

• Have you ever had to accept defeat and throw in the towel?
• Do you think it's better to keep fighting till the end or to throw in the towel when defeat seems certain?

Write your answers in the comments section below.