Phonetically correct sports

[Jim Parish]

Michael Quinion wrote:
> A subscriber e-mailed me as follows: "I was recently with some friends at
> a trivia evening. One question was 'What is the only correct phonetically
> spelled sport?' It turned out to be 'Golf'". Your follow-up question:
> explain what's wrong phonetically with "rugby" and "cricket".

Completely off-the-wall suggestion: could it be that "Golf" is one of the
words in the other International Phonetic Alphabet - the one that begins
(I think) "Able, Baker, Charlie"?

Jim Parish

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