…or he might confirm that she’s ugly, too. The San Jose Mercury News’ Daniel Brown writes that while Krukow once had Giants fans stopping him on the street to complain, “`What are you talking about? You’re speaking a language we don’t understand.”, the pitcher-turned-broadcaster now has grandma in the supermarket exclaiming “grab some pine, Meat!”

The following are excerpts from Brown’s Krukow-to-English dictionary :

BRAIN-DEAD HEAVER n. A pitcher without finesse, who simply throws the ball with all his might. Origin: Krukow didn’t invent this phrase — “It’s been around forever,” he said — but he did use it memorably one night on the air. “I called Jay Howell a brain-dead heaver, and right away our switchboard lit up. A woman from the local anti-defamation league called to say, `I can’t believe that you’re allowing your announcer to call someone a brain-dead Hebrew on the air.’ ”

SHARK BITE n. An inside fastball that lands between the label and hitter’s thumbs, causing the bat to break. Origin: “A shark bite chews up wood,” Krukow said. “The first time I ever heard that was in minor league ball. We had a catcher from the University of Texas named Steve Clancy. He’d come out and say, `Throw that shark-bite fastball.’ ”

STANK-EYE n. A menacing look, usually given by a batter to a pitcher after a brushback. Origin: “A Duane Kuiper-ism, 100 percent,” Krukow said. “He dug deep in the rosin bag one day to come up with that in reference to Marvin Benard, who always had the best stank-eye on the team. Marvin would take an inside-corner strike and act like you were throwing at him.

“We’ve been using it ever since. There have been some really good stank-eyes in history. Will Clark had a good stank-eye. Reggie Smith had a great stank-eye — he had a Ph.D. in stank-eye. Then, toward the end of his career, he had more stank-eye than ability.”