wheelhouse

M

mathman

Valued Senior Member
Wheelhouse usually referred to the place on an ship where the steering wheel was located. Recently I have heard the term being used by sports announcers (baseball in particular). What are they talking about?
 
mathman said:
Wheelhouse usually referred to the place on an ship where the steering wheel was located. Recently I have heard the term being used by sports announcers (baseball in particular). What are they talking about?
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The "wheelhouse" is a metaphor for a place someone (like a player) is most comfortable.

"Joe Pitcher is really in his wheelhouse now, against a string of teams without any southpaws." (Meaning Joe Pitcher is more comfortable pitching against right hand batters.)
 
I think it's more than just being comfortable but being in a position where they get to dictate proceedings / direction.
 
mathman said:
Wheelhouse usually referred to the place on an ship where the steering wheel was located. Recently I have heard the term being used by sports announcers (baseball in particular). What are they talking about?
Click to expand...

US culture has a undercurrent Obsession with power.
their language and slang often refers to such as a metaphor for self control or idealism by being the one with ALL the power and control.
The first big linguistic move to this acknolledgement was making the phrase "Law maker" to refer to people in judicial associated power positions.

"owning it" etc.. derivation so the same
wheel house/bridge/steering wheel/drivers seat/joy stick(though the sexual conotations of the culture to the word joy & stick undermine the literal association)

only in the last few years we have seen the US social culture become aware of the idea of being in the power controlposition but not wantng to be accountable.
this is making a shift in culture.
it will be interesting to see how this evolves.
 
Why do Americans crave power? Because most get endlessly hosed by politicians. Most fantasize one day where they don't have to be told what to do by "law makers".
 
Sarkus said:
I think it's more than just being comfortable but being in a position where they get to dictate proceedings / direction.
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Perhaps.
But my personal experience is as billvon states it.

I am a software developer. But back-end is not my forte. Front-end is more in my wheelhouse.
 
A bit OT.. I wrote a GUI for an accounting suite in PC-COBOL 85. Talk about front ends. That was fun...

Edit: The only machines that had HIDs besides keyboards were high-end workstations and government systems that we didn't know about. ;)

There were no APA displays readily available at the time either. We were writing the software for a college admissions record keeping with a solid accounting package backend. I wasn't familiar with System 32, so I was given the treat of learning how to translate and test code for the hugely different platform.

It really was fun. :cool:
 
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Sarkus said:
I think it's more than just being comfortable but being in a position where they get to dictate proceedings / direction.
Click to expand...
Well, that works too. But you can be in your wheelhouse without any control over anyone else. It's any place/situation/condition where you feel like you are on top of things; comfortable in your command of X (the boardroom, your code, your pitching game.)
 
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