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When a golfer hits a shot which he or she considers uncharacteristic and drops a ball with which to take the shot "over again," it is called a Mulligan (with or without initial capital letter). There are a variety of stores about the etymology of this term and, who knows, one of them might even be true. Thoughts?
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Carpal Tunnel
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From Dave Wilton: "This golfing term for a free swing dates to 1949. The origin is unknown. It seems likely that there was once a really poor golfer named Mulligan whose partners would allow him extra strokes, but if true his identity is now lost to the ages." http://www.wordorigins.org/This is my go-to guy for origins of words and phrases. I don't know another good place to look except the OED but the print is too tiny. I hope tsuwm or one of his ilk  will chime in.
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Carpal Tunnel
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my pleasure, m'am  1. A stew made from odds and ends of food. Also attrib.
2. (With capital initial.) Golf. An extra stroke awarded after a poor shot, not counted on the score card. colloq.
1949 P. Cummings Dict. Sports 275 Mulligan, Golf, a handicap of a free shot given after a player makes a bad one. 1952 Golf Digest May 7 ‘It's just a friendly match,’ he said. ‘Wanna take a mulligan?’ 1965 H. Graffis Esquire's World of Golf xii. 174 Magnanimously, the hustler will allow his prey a Mulligan off the tee now and then. 1971 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 7 Feb. 1/2 With millions watching on color television, Shepard took another poke—the extra chance golf duffers call a ‘Mulligan’—and connected solidly.
copyright OED2 So, Father, it seems we should capitalise the capital fellow!
Last edited by maverick; 12/20/2005 10:17 PM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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etymologically speaking, both the stew and the stroke stem from the Irish Mulligans, sez the latest draft version. (2004)
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Carpal Tunnel
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I had to read that subject line thrice to make sense of it. All I need now is for some boyo to run off on a hastily arranged marriage, so that I can come back with a crack about antelopes.
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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He's a tricksy alpaca, he is
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
I had to read that subject line thrice to make sense of it.
I've read it more than thrice and I still haven't made any sense of it, but then it's mav and, if he's not a horse of a different concourse, he at least rode in on one. I come a little too close to "getting" that antelope one, so I'm not putting any effort into it whatsoever.
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Carpal Tunnel
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> tsuwm or one of his "ilk"
that's all I can figger out.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Translation: I'm not an elk, I'm a gnu.
A direct reference to Betsy's "I hope tsuwm or one of his ilk will chime in. "
Last edited by consuelo; 12/21/2005 11:54 AM.
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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indeed! Fong, just consider it a swansong.
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Mav is definitely one of the good ones.
TEd
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I got the ilk/elk/gnu part, but didn't know about the Flanders and Swan song. Thanks, mav--that's hilarious!
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Quote:
indeed! Fong, just consider it a swansong.
Fooled by the extraneous R again. Somehow I always expect it to be attually pernounced.
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