Why do they call it (hitting the ball off-center) English, and not Latin or French or something?
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Sonaip
ANSWERS: 1
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First of all, English only refers to side-spin. You can have Left English or Right English, but top-spin is called Follow and back-spin Draw. Secondly, it is only called English in North America. In the early 1800's an Englishman named Jack Carr, in the USA, found that chalking the tip of the cue prevented it from slipping and mis-cueing. He also discovered that he could cause amazing effects on the cue ball's behaviour by putting a side-spin on it. He travelled around demonstrating this effect (and selling 'magical' chalk) and it became known as the English effect.
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