Etymology

catch no ball

Today it means: To fail to understand something; be unable to comprehend what others are saying. Full definition →

Hokkien 掠無球 /掠无球
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Hokkien · calque of掠無球 /掠无球“to not understand”
  2. English todaycatch no ball

Calque of Hokkien 掠無球 /掠无球 (lia̍h bô kiû, “to not understand”, literally “catch no ball”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.