Why 'Silly'?

[firefly]

And why other cricketing position names?

[darth vader]

silly, as in "silly mid-on" literally means so flipping close to the batsman you'd have to be silly to stand there - a few more (sorry it's been a while so i can't remember them all) mid on and mid off - the on-off business comes from the hand of the batsman - if the batsman is right handed then by the way he stands, he would find it easier to hit balls to his left [on side] (across the body) than to the right [off side] (away from the body). Obviously the rule is vice versa for left-handers. Therefore the mid-on mid-off stands midway between the batsman and the boundary behind the oncoming bowler, either on the on-side or on the off-side (sorry this is hard to explain without diagrams). Long mid-on and long mid-off, stand nearer the boundary. Square leg - stands in line with the umpire on the on-side (leg side), forming a right-angle/square with the bowler batter and himself. Gully - other side of square leg but a bit behind the batter (almost like a nunmber 5 slip) - an educated guess is that this is a common channel or gully, for the batter to hit to. fine-leg is behind the batsman (usually on the boundary) on the on-side, in case the batsman hit's the ball finely (and deflecting it behind him). 3rd man is same thing but on off-side (I don't honestly know why it's called 3rd man)..... what else........ wicket keeper - obvious why he's named that, slips - stands near the wicket keeper for when the batter gets fine edges (again i dunno why they're called that). Any more you want to know?

[firefly]

You say this hard to explain without diagrams, Darth. I've got the diagram in front of me and I'm still having problems with it. I suppose if you work clockwise you can show the outer positions, starting from the '1' of the clock-long off, deep extra cover, extra cover, cover point, deep third man, deep fine leg, deep square leg, deep square leg and long-on; but the rest of them seem to be a mass of names!