Despite its universal popularity and frequent airtime on ESPN with professionally organized tournaments, billiards has rarely enjoyed universal respect. Before hitting America, billiards already had a spotty history thanks to the likes of hustlers such as Englishman Jack Carr. Carr, the first person to put chalk on his cue tip, made a fortune peddling his magic "twisting chalk" around France in the 1820s. The "magic" was actually in Carr's wrist; he was the first player to apply spin to a billiards ball, and the term "English" is still used to denote this move.

尽管台球已经风靡世界各地，ESPN也时常转播职业球队的公开赛，但却始终未能赢得世人尊重的目光。在台球风潮袭卷美洲之前，它已经有了一段发展不平衡的历史，这点，活跃分子诸如英格兰人杰克卡尔等功不可没。卡尔是首位将白垩用于磨削球杆尖端的人，19世纪20年代他还因在法国各地兜售他神奇的“白垩”发了财。事实上真正“神奇”的，是卡尔的手腕：他首创旋转球打法，当时称呼此动作的术语（“侧旋”(English)）也沿用迄今。

(短文节选,本篇始于：台球的沿革)