Dirty Sheets

They’re wonderful to listen to, because they know loads about cycling (and they’re funny!), but best of all is when they teach me (and, okay, several million other people) new slang. F’rinstance, one of them (Phil, I think) just used the phrase “broken his duck” in reference to Armstrong winning stage 20 in the 2005 Tour de France (an individual time trial). My first thought was that it was analogous to “busted [pronoun]’s cherry”, but it’s not — well, not exactly. It’s short for “broken his duck’s egg”, meaning “finally scored points”, either for the first time or for the first time in a long time.

I think it could be used to mean having lost one’s virginity, personally. I’m inclined to pop it into my Welsh Boys story.