Thence comes the saying “behind the eight ball”, meaning a position of difficulty from which one is unlikely to extricate themselves.

I actually play the Eight Ball pool and so I find this expression very easy to understand. However, there are different stories as to the origin of this expression, some disputing even whether the expression derives from Eight Ball pool in the first place. However, it doesn’t really matter, so long as you understand it correctly and know where to put it in use correctly.

Use it, for example, among people who play the game and who easily understand what you’re saying. Don’t, for example, use it outside of sports circles many of whom may have no idea what you’re talking about.

Incidentally, if you know nothing about the game of pool, of which the Eight Ball is but one form (others include the Nine Ball popular in the United States, Snooker, which Ding Junhui plays, and professional billiards, popular in Europe), here are a few stanzas of the Pool Song by the Dubliners, an Irish band, which will give you something of an idea of this fun game, indeed sometimes a silly game once you find yourself helplessly addicted to it:

Well, this pool you will find is a game designed

For foolish illiterate louts

You push in four bob and you pull an old knob

And a big shower of balls they come out

They're placed on a table and then if you're able

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