Step where, how?

[vakkotaur]

I was never into sports and that's putting much of it mildly. There were things that did interest me, such as radio. The book that I first learned much of electronics and radio from was originally written in the days of vacuum tubes. The later revision I read mentioned transistors but a mention was about it.

Thus I knew of electron current (just try to explain, sanely, how a vacuum tube works using "conventional current") and of the heater, cathode, grid, anode or plate, and such. This has an impact on how I hear or interpret at least one phrase.

While I know full well the intended baseball-derived meaning of "step up to the plate," whenever I hear that phrase I wonder why someone should closely approach the anode.