Pros from Dover

[Donald M Lance]

Maybe, just maybe, it's a place name with convenient assonance and doesn't
have to be the famous cliffs or the capital of Delaware or the little town
in Arkansas.

DMLance

on 7/23/02 12:31 AM, Douglas G. Wilson at douglas at NB.NET wrote:

> Here's what I adduce from Internet references. I read and saw "MASH" so
> long ago that I'm not sure whether I remember any of this or not: some
> seems to ring a faint bell. I don't guarantee it: maybe I can get a look at
> the novel tomorrow, or maybe somebody else remembers better.
>
> In the movie "MASH", Hawkeye and Trapper introduce themselves facetiously
> as "the pros from Dover", but in the first use of the expression in the
> movie Hawkeye introduces himself as "the pro from Dover" and introduces his
> companion as his caddie. They are apparently surgeons between golf games.
> "Pro" means "golf pro", i.e. the "pro[fessional golfer]" (?) associated
> with a golf club. Apparently somewhere in the original MASH novel, somebody
> (Hawkeye?) has a trick for getting free golf course admission (in Maine, I
> think): introducing himself (to the pro at a golf club) as "the pro from
> Dover", i.e., as the pro from some other golf club (maybe an imaginary
> one), thus getting a free game as "professional courtesy".
>
> So the movie usage is from the novel and I think there is some background
> there. The current usage I feel pretty sure comes from the movie. "Pros
> from Dover" means "[outside/visiting] experts", I guess.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>