Is it Arc or Arch? There's a 3-point line, and there's the famous Arc de Triomphe

It's a common mistake, especially among sports writers and broadcasters. When a basketball player takes a shot from behind the three-point line drawn on the court, without fail someone -- the writer in a post game story or in a Tweet during the game or the radio or television announcer handling the respective broadcast -- will use "arch" instead of "arc" when describing from where the shot was taken.

In a recent report of the NC State University's men's basketball team win over North Carolina, the writer for The News & Observer penned a story -- "Fearless" freshman Shakeel Moore starts to shine at the perfect time for NC State -- about freshman Shakeel Moore and his fast start against the Tar Heels. He wrote, "His first two baskets were from behind the arch."

Not so. They were from behind the "arc" which, by definition, is "any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line." It's a two-dimensional line drawn on the court which rewards the player and the team with three points if the shot from there goes in. Shooting from behind the "arc" is somewhat easy. It's easy to aim and shoot, though accurate tossing is required for the reward.

Arc de Triomphe in Paris

On the other hand, shooting from behind an "arch" can be a bit difficult, one would imagine. An arch, by definition, is a curved masonry construction for spanning an opening such as an archway from room to room in a house, or, as we may know the most famous arch, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Not all arches are that large. Your house, as described in the definition, could have such a structure. So shooting from behind the "arch" would be difficult at best.

There are two other types of "arches" with which you should be familiar. There's the arch in your foot which, I guess, could be slightly ahead of the ball when it is released toward the basket and, therefore, the shot came from behind the arch. 

Arch Miller shoots from beyond
the three-point arc

And there is Arch Miller, current basketball coach for the Indiana Hoosiers and a diminutive (5'10" tall) basketball player at NC State, 1998-2002 where he ended his playing career with a 42.9 percent accuracy from the three-point arc, hitting 218 of his three-pointers.

If Miller had been guarding Moore (6'1"), Moore's three-point attempts could have been from behind the "arch." It's unlikely Miller could have blocked Moore's shot. But, Arch wasn't there. So, instead of Moore's first two baskets coming from behind the "arch," the three-pointers were from behind the "arc," that two-dimensional line drawn on the court.