"You don't swing golf, you play golf"
- Thread starter Fore Rail
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You don't write pool. You shoot it.
Starting a Youtube channel?
Starting a Youtube channel?
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
Did the original saying have the day's lucky numbers below it, and was the fortune cookie tasty?
Not everything that you don't understand is deep, sometimes it is just unintelligible garbage.
Not everything that you don't understand is deep, sometimes it is just unintelligible garbage.
dendweller
Well-known member
merriam-webster.com lists golf as both a noun and an intransitive verb so I think people are okay saying I'm golfing today.
Pooling today, not so much.
Yup
Webster can be wrong, and it is in this case. What makes you think the person who included that into Webster actually plays golf or is an expert in English? Have you seen how journalists write these days? They have very little understanding of the English language. The bar keeps getting lowered --- SMH --- Golf is a noun. It's not suddenly a verb just because Webster is giving credibility to incorrect use of the English language.
Stick to Strunk and White's Elements of Style if you want to understand the proper use of English grammar.
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I have heard it more often as “playing golf swing” rather than “playing golf”. Means you are focused on swing and mechanics rather than playing the game. It has a lot of application to pool. Tor Lowry has a YouTube video about it that uses Tiger’s mindset as an example. Important sports psychology question.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
Golf has been a verb for decades. It has been more normal to say, 'Let's golf', or, 'My worthless girlfriend spends more time golfing than taking care of her illegitimate kids' than to say, 'Let's play golf'. This is decades old, so if that particular bar was lowered, it was well before the whipper-snappers, and maybe before the fogeys.
Just a check, the earliest use of 'golf' as a verb was in the 1800's, according to OED. Strunk wasn't published until 1920.
Well language evolves and what was incorrect, if it becomes common usage, then becomes “correct”. We ain’t exactly speakin’ the Queen’s English no more. Seriously though, I hate the degradation that we see lately because it indicates and fosters sloppy thinking which has consequences.
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I hate sloppy writing and editing especially in news articles. I made my living as a proof reader among other duties for a few years. I deliberately write messages in conversational english but it isn't the same wording I would use in a technical article or paper.
Hu
Only the players that get super frustrated, STOKE a cue... usually in a bar b que pit...
And, yes, you can go golfing.
Jaden
FWIW I used to "play bowl", is that how it should be said??? 
I have been reading news articles about an incident. Enough missing in all of them that my questions still aren't answered but somebody's chest was marked. Conflict over what was used, box cutter, ceramic, or plastic.
The articles say scratched, etched, and cut. "Scratched" can cover a wide range from disappear with the swipe of a hand to drawing blood. I have to admit "etch" is more vague as it can range from scrape to cut. "Cut" while it can range from shallow to deep, seems clearest. Not clear this is what happened though.
The "victim" allowed the word to be marked on his chest. While cutting is possible, it seems unlikely. Not impossible, college students involved, but unlikely. Most likely fairly lightly scratched, no scarring. In which case this is much ado about almost nothing.
After reading a half dozen articles or more I still don't have context. Was this a foolish act or one done with malicious intent?
One picture or clearer wording would be nice. Instead, no way to separate fact and spin. Just a recent example of sloppy wording or deliberate spin.
Hu
The articles say scratched, etched, and cut. "Scratched" can cover a wide range from disappear with the swipe of a hand to drawing blood. I have to admit "etch" is more vague as it can range from scrape to cut. "Cut" while it can range from shallow to deep, seems clearest. Not clear this is what happened though.
The "victim" allowed the word to be marked on his chest. While cutting is possible, it seems unlikely. Not impossible, college students involved, but unlikely. Most likely fairly lightly scratched, no scarring. In which case this is much ado about almost nothing.
After reading a half dozen articles or more I still don't have context. Was this a foolish act or one done with malicious intent?
One picture or clearer wording would be nice. Instead, no way to separate fact and spin. Just a recent example of sloppy wording or deliberate spin.
Hu
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
The people who believe things like that will come to a figurative brick wall and beat their heads against it instead of looking for a way around it.
So you're saying if it's old it's correct? LOL. Feel free to go golfing. I will continue to play golf.