Lift ticket

A lift ticket or lift pass is an identifier usually attached to a skier's outerwear that indicates they have paid and can ride on the ski lift up a mountain to ski.

Lift tickets may vary by time period, or type of lift. Some resorts use digital cards embedded with RFID chips. These cards are kept in a pocket during the skier's visit to the resort as they do not need to be removed for the access gate to detect them.

Formerly it was common to use a wicket for skiing (also called a ticket wicket), a short piece of light wire which loops through the clothing of a customer. The wicket was invented by Killington Ski Resort employee Charlie Hanley, and given its name by his wife Jane. The ticket wicket was patented in 1966, and licensed to ski areas across the U.S. following a road show sponsored by Killington. Despite quick and widespread adoption of the wicket, Hanley never made any money off the soon-ubiquitous ticket wicket; an avid skier, he was content to invent something that further developed the then-nascent sport of downhill skiing. It was patented again in 1995. Before ticket wickets, lift tickets were stapled or glued directly to clothing. It made tampering with the lift ticket difficult. The wicket inspired several innovations to make its use more convenient, such as ski ticket holder pigtail. In addition, many ski jackets are designed with wickets in mind, providing plastic or cloth loops that allow the attachment of a wicket without interfering with zipper operation.

Ski

A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins (originally made of seal fur, but now made of synthetic materials) can be attached at the base of the ski.

Originally intended as an aid to travel over snow, they are now mainly used recreationally in the sport of skiing.

Etymology and usage

The word ski comes from the Old Norse word "skíð" which means stick of wood or ski.

In Norwegian this word is usually pronounced [ˈʃiː]. In Swedish, another language evolved from Old Norse, the word is "skidor" (pl.).

English and French use the original spelling "ski", and modify the pronunciation. Prior to 1920, English usage of "skee" and "snow-shoe" is often seen. In Italian, it is pronounced as in Norwegian, and the spelling is modified: "sci". Portuguese, German and Spanish adapt the word to their linguistic rules: esqui, Schier (a German plural of Ski) and esquí. In Dutch, the word is "ski” and pronunciation was originally [ˈʃiː] as in Norwegian, but since approximately the 1960s changed to [ˈskiː]. Many languages make a verb form out of the noun, such as "to ski" in English, "skier" in French, "esquiar" in Spanish, "sciare" in Italian, "skiën" in Dutch, "esquiar" in Portuguese or "schilaufen" (as above also Ski laufen or Ski fahren) in German.

List of family name affixes

Family name affixes are a clue for family name etymology and can sometimes determine the ethnic origin of a person. This is a partial list of affixes.

Prefixes

Ski (driving stunt)

Skiing is an automotive driving stunt where the car is driven while balanced only on two wheels, either the pair on the driver side or on the passenger side.

The stunt is generally performed by driving one pair of wheels up on a ramp to lift one side of the car. Alternately, the stunt can be done in a vehicle with a high center of gravity (such as a 4x4 or SUV) by turning sharply or at speed. This technique is more dangerous because there is a strong possibility of the vehicle tipping completely over. Another technique is to let some air out of the tires that will be on the ground, so that the car can tip easier, as well as keep its balance better. Once up on two wheels, the car has to be balanced by steering (much as one would when riding a bicycle) which makes it necessary to drive more or less in a straight line. The vehicle used must also be fitted with a lockable differential (common on 4x4s).

Famous uses

The stunt has been used in many movies and television series, including Knight Rider,The Dukes of Hazzard, and two of the James Bond movies. The British stunt driver Russ Swift performs this maneuver as part of his shows and has achieved it in a wide range of vehicles including trucks. His son Paul also uses it in his displays and once rolled a Ford Fiesta whilst attempting to drive around Cardiff's Millennium Stadium at the Wales Rally GB in 2005.

Wicket

In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:

Definitions

Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The wicket is guarded by a batsman who, with his bat, attempts to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket.

The origin of the word is from the standard definition of wicket as a small gate. Historically, cricket wickets had only two stumps and one bail and looked like a gate. The third (middle) stump was introduced in 1775.

The size and shape of the wicket has changed several times during the last 300 years and its dimensions and placing is now determined by Law 8 in the Laws of Cricket, thus:

Wicket (retail)

Wicket (disambiguation)

A wicket is a term used in the sport of cricket with several related meanings.

It also has some non-cricket meanings: