Antedating "the yips" OED 1963-->1943 :: Fwd: "yips" - Word of the Day from the OED (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

Great work, Bill! I see that the LA84 foundation has created a
database of old sports publications that includes issues of The
American Golfer.

The 1935 cite is excellent and provides an earlier instance of Tommy
Armour describing his hobby-horse, the yips:

"Suppose we check up on putting'', Armour continued. "Many old
gentlemen around 75 or even 80 are just as good around the putting
greens as most of the best pros. Some of them are better. It brings on
a case of the jitters or the yips that has given its deadly poison to
such golfers as Harry Vardon, George Duncan, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen
and several others I might mention.

The 1933 cite is using "yips" with an older sense, I think, as part of
a metaphor that refers to the kind of sound a dog makes. This
interpretation is based on the subtitle for the article containing the
quote:

BARKS  AND  BITES  AT  HOLE  NINETEEN
   Listen Again to the Chorus of the Locker Room
   Hotairdales, All Yip-Yipping at the Same Time
By BARRIE PAYNE
…
"--and Freddie, who had three-putted eight greens that day, settled
the argument by saying, 'We call the flagsticks pins because they're
all standing in geedee pinholes and I can lick the guy who says
they're not.' "
"--always yips, 'bad luck' when he takes a seven, but you'll notice he
never yells, 'good luck' after a birdie. Oh, certainly not. It's a
question of skill, pure and simple, when he shoots a birdie."

Garson

On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating "the yips" OED 1963-->1943 :: Fwd: "yips" - Word
>              of the Day from the OED (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Barrie Payne, "Barks and Bites at Hole Nineteen" _The American Golfer_
> Sept 1933, Vol. 36, Iss. 12 p 30 col 3
> " ""-always yips, 'bad luck' when he takes a seven, but you'll notice he
> never yells, 'good luck' after a birdie." "
> [Not clear if "yips" is noun, as most of the cites in this thread are,
> or verb "to yelp, holler".  Probably the latter.]
>
>
> Grantland Rice, "Putting Poison" _The American Golfer_ Mar 1935, Vol.
> 38, Iss. 6 p 20 col 1
> " It brings on a case of the jitters or the yips that has given its
> deadly poison to such golfers as Harry Vardon, George Duncan, Bobby
> Jones, Walter Hagen and several others I might mention. "
>

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