[Ads-l] tuck and back tuck

[Barretts Mail]

At about 40 seconds into the following video (Lyd's Vyds), the woman does a “back tuck”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4YJM0i9Y_4 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4YJM0i9Y_4>

The woman flips her body backward from standing position to standing position without touching the ground during the maneuver. To me, it looks like a back flip (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/backflip <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/backflip>), but the English OLD (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/backflip <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/backflip>) says that a backflip is done with the arms and legs stretched out straight. In the video, the woman’s arms are not held out straight.

According to "The Mind-Boggling Physics of a Standing Double Backflip” (https://www.wired.com/story/the-mind-boggling-physics-of-a-standing-double-back-flip/ <https://www.wired.com/story/the-mind-boggling-physics-of-a-standing-double-back-flip/>), a back tuck is a back flip starting from a standing position (it’s not clear whether a back flip has to start from a standing position). 

"How to Do a Standing Back Tuck | Gymnastics Lessons” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD1h2bSH1eY <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD1h2bSH1eY>) says that a standing back tuck is the same thing as a back flip.

Looking at “back tuck”, the English OLD has the term in a sample sentence under “tuck” (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tuck <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tuck>):

(in diving, gymnastics, downhill skiing, etc.) a position with the knees bent and held close to the chest, often with the hands clasped round the shins.
	‘I think it's cool that you can do back tucks and handsprings and all that.’

Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tuck <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tuck>) defines a tuck as: A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.

Regardless of the requirement of holding the limbs straight, it seems that a tuck is, in addition to a position, a maneuver of the body. I don’t know that it can be used alone, but both “front tuck” and “back tuck” are in use. With the maneuver meaning of tuck, “back tuck” could probably be reasonably inferred from the meaning of “back” (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/back <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/back>): Directed towards the rear or in a reversed course.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org