"GOLFING" - is it a word?

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogolf

I worked for Dove Canyon Country Club in 1986 and the first thing they told me was not to say golfing.  They said it's Play Golf.  They also told me it's not a hole, it's a cup, and it's not a sandtrap, it's a bunker.

My two cents, for what it is worth.

Rules of Golf define it as a hole, not a cup.

You're right about the sandtrap versus bunker terminology. (Although I've heard Arnold Palmer refer to it as a sandtrap, so if it's good enough for Arnie I won't disagree with him!)

Welcome to The SandTrap, by the way!

Mental note, "Only join a club after having looked carefully at their rules".

[Patch]

I wonder if I can get away with "going golf balling"..........

[Jack Palmer]

You surf, you golf, you bowl, you fish. 

Hence surfing, golfing, bowling, fishing.  

You do NOT baseball, soccer, tennis or ping pong. 

Edited March 23, 2016 by Jack Palmer

[Wally Fairway]

what a weird first post, necro bump

[Jack Palmer]

Haha. Sorry. Someone just brought it up last week and had been going back and forth with it. So when I googled it this site came up. 

[iacas]

 

Haha. Sorry. Someone just brought it up last week and had been going back and forth with it. So when I googled it this site came up. 

We're happy to have you.

Even if some people like to go "golfing."

[Jack Palmer]

Thanks!!  Just getting back into the game after 23 yrs. My 21 yr old son had been bitten by the golf bug last summer and has fallen under its spell, so it's been a great way to re-connect when he's home from college. 

[Fourputt]

 

Thanks!!  Just getting back into the game after 23 yrs. My 21 yr old son had been bitten by the golf bug last summer and has fallen under its spell, so it's been a great way to re-connect when he's home from college. 

Welcome to the Sandtrap.  This is a great place to keep in touch with all aspects of the game.

[paininthenuts]

 

This has been something that bothers me for quite some time. I say NOT because:

-"Golf" is a noun, not a verb (you can't go baseballing or basketballing, you PLAY baseball and PLAY basketball)
-I have noticed that most people that actually play golf say they "play golf", those who do not say: "are you going golfing?" or "Did you go golfing today?" or "Do you like to golf?"
***
-Things that confuse me are things like: Golfing Magazine, which has very knowledgeable writers, who have to have picked up on the title of their magazine.

Let me know what you think...

With all due respect the American's have pretty much destroyed the English language. I would think there are far bigger fish to fry rather than worrying about the word "GOLFING". Your biggest sin is to have invented the word "OVERLY", which is now been adopted in this country. It's a ridiculous word, as the letters "l" & "y" at the end of "over" are totally unnecessary. Just try replacing the word "overly" with "over", and you will see what I mean. 

 

We're happy to have you.

Even if some people like to go "golfing."

I'm not 

[pumaAttack]

40 minutes ago, paininthenuts said:

With all due respect the American's have pretty much destroyed the English language. I would think there are far bigger fish to fry rather than worrying about the word "GOLFING". Your biggest sin is to have invented the word "OVERLY", which is now been adopted in this country. It's a ridiculous word, as the letters "l" & "y" at the end of "over" are totally unnecessary. Just try replacing the word "overly" with "over", and you will see what I mean. 

I'm not 

You have a problem with making "over" into an adverb?  What a weird thing to concern yourself with.  

I am over excited to golf today.  Or.  I am overly excited to golf today.  

I know which one sounds better.  It's the adverb used to further describe the verb of my sentence.   

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, paininthenuts said:

With all due respect the American's have pretty much destroyed the English language. I would think there are far bigger fish to fry rather than worrying about the word "GOLFING". Your biggest sin is to have invented the word "OVERLY", which is now been adopted in this country. It's a ridiculous word, as the letters "l" & "y" at the end of "over" are totally unnecessary. Just try replacing the word "overly" with "over", and you will see what I mean. 

I'm not 

You are overly concerned with this issue. Substituting "over" in that usage would not sound right to my ear.

The English language was a mess long before it was exported to the New World.  Too many irregular verbs and inconsistent pronunciations and homonyms.  

You "proper" English employ far too many "u's" - colour, honour, etc.  Totally superfluous.

That said, I still don't like "golf" as a fully conjugated verb.  It has some usage in certain forms but is not really proper in others, and in that sense it is no different from many other English words.  "Going golfing" is not the worst, but not one I particularly like - I go play golf.   "Golfing his ball" is horrible - makes the user sound illiterate.  

"Golfer" sounds like it comes from a verb, but why does it have to be so? It's a noun that designates a person who plays golf.  It's a word that stands alone, unconnected to any proper verb.  It's just another irregularity in the English language.

[paininthenuts]

1 hour ago, Fourputt said:

You are overly concerned with this issue. Substituting "over" in that usage would not sound right to my ear.

The English language was a mess long before it was exported to the New World.  Too many irregular verbs and inconsistent pronunciations and homonyms.  

You "proper" English employ far too many "u's" - colour, honour, etc.  Totally superfluous.

That said, I still don't like "golf" as a fully conjugated verb.  It has some usage in certain forms but is not really proper in others, and in that sense it is no different from many other English words.  "Going golfing" is not the worst, but not one I particularly like - I go play golf.   "Golfing his ball" is horrible - makes the user sound illiterate.  

"Golfer" sounds like it comes from a verb, but why does it have to be so? It's a noun that designates a person who plays golf.  It's a word that stands alone, unconnected to any proper verb.  It's just another irregularity in the English language.

Oh

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

With all due respect the American's have pretty much destroyed the English language. I would think there are far bigger fish to fry rather than worrying about the word "GOLFING". Your biggest sin is to have invented the word "OVERLY", which is now been adopted in this country. It's a ridiculous word, as the letters "l" & "y" at the end of "over" are totally unnecessary. Just try replacing the word "overly" with "over", and you will see what I mean. 

I'm not 

Before you assign all blame to we Yanks, read this book, The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way by Bill Bryson. You will be surprised at how many colloquialisms you associate with the USA really originated in the UK or elsewhere.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T3DR56C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

[paininthenuts]

2 hours ago, pumaAttack said:

You have a problem with making "over" into an adverb?  What a weird thing to concern yourself with.  

I am over excited to golf today.  Or.  I am overly excited to golf today.  

I know which one sounds better.  It's the adverb used to further describe the verb of my sentence.   

Neither are right. It would just be, I am excited to play golf today. Rest assured, there is no space for the word "overly" in the English language, and if there was the word "underly" would have been invented, which would also be stupid !!

[pumaAttack]

1 minute ago, paininthenuts said:

Neither are right. It would just be, I am excited to play golf today. Rest assured, there is no space for the word "overly" in the English language, and if there was the word "underly" would have been invented, which would also be stupid !!

No, its called an adverb and is describing how exited you are.  You only want verbs and no adverbs?  That would be a boring language...

 

[paininthenuts]

2 hours ago, pumaAttack said:

No, its called an adverb and is describing how exited you are.  You only want verbs and no adverbs?  That would be a boring language...

 

So why isn't "underly" a word then ?

[boogielicious]

1 minute ago, paininthenuts said:

So why isn't "underly" a word then ?

It may have been 300 years ago. Read the book.

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, paininthenuts said:

So why isn't "underly" a word then ?

Because there is no reliable logic to the English Language.  It's been constructed from too many pieces and parts of other languages, and doesn't adhere to the rules for any of them.