GOLF (Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden)

[Michael Quinion]

Laurence Horn wrote

> Perhaps Michael Quinion covers that in his "POSH" book.  It's from the
> same tradition of faux acronymy.

I did, though only to point out that it was a joke and as an excuse
to give what was known about the real origin. I wasn't able to find
any evidence for where it comes from, except that it often appears in
those joke etymological e-mails that circulate endlessly and which
assert, for example, that a wake is so called because people sit
about the corpse to watch it in case it wakes up.

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <wordseditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>