Pocket billiards such as modern-day pool and snooker were around, but they were considered to be the ill-bred cousins of carom billiards, which used a pocketless table. The name pool was born during the 1840s when billiards was closely identified with gambling parlors, or "pool parlors" in the lexicon of the day. The name stuck, and with more than 40 million people playing in America alone last year, so has the game.

“球袋台球”(pocket billiards)如花式、英式台球在当时比比皆是，但却被视为是“教养不良的兄弟台球”（carom billiards),它们的球台没有球袋。“弹子”(pool)这个名词 出现在19世纪40年代，当时台球室和赌场是紧密联系在一起的，以当时的辞汇称之即为“弹子房”。这个名称就保留下来，去年，光是美国就有超过四千万人玩台球，这项运动也常盛不衰。

(短文节选,本篇始于：台球的沿革)