OED's "bogey" and "par"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/1/2011 05:19 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
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>I don't see what you see.
>
>5b says nothing about a line. It says, "The starting-point in a
>handicap of a competitor who receives no odds", which I believe to be
>correct, at least about golf. In golf, a scratch golfer has a handicap
>of zero; a golfer with a twenty handicap has 20 points subtracted from
>his score.

I concede error about handicaps and "scratch" in
golf.  (Although I still think the origin is in
the line scratched in the ground for a foot
race.)  However, the definition of bogey -> par
-> scratch player seems odd.  (For one thing,
bogey and par are hole-by-hole, scratch and a
handicap are for an entire round.)  And for me
the defect still seems to be to be the definition
in terms of the undefined "scratch player" --
it's unnecessarily allusive to some, but not
identified, previous sense of "scratch."

Joel


>Bogey is more complicated, as the use of bogey changed over time, and
>several terms (bogey, par, scratch) were used to represent the concept
>of a typical score. Par is traced back to 1870 Scotland in the golfing
>histories, as a prediction of the winning score at The Open at
>Prestwick. Bogey was older, but became an English club standard at the
>end of the 19th century.
>
>Starting in 1893 in the US, standards for handicapping on a national
>basis were developed, and the definitions of bogie as one over par for
>a hole, and par as the expected score of a scratch golfer arose and
>were accepted by golfing authorities.
>
>Because the definitions changed over time, all of them are correct in context.
>
>DanG
>
>On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 3:57 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: OED's "bogey" and "par"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 6/1/2011 11:50 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
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> >>What is wrong with any of this?
> >
> > Bogey (U.S.) is defined in terms of par, which is
> > defined in terms of a "scratch player".  "Scratch
> > player" is not defined, and its meaning derives
> > from games/contests where there is a (starting)
> > line (the "scratch line"), from which the scratch
> > player starts and in front of which the player
> > given a handicap starts.  E.g., foot races.  But not golf.
> >
> > Bogey sense a. I am not sure about.  If bogey is
> > the score of a good player, what kind of player
> > gets the better "par" score?  And I wonder if
> > this sense is still in use in golf anywhere worldwide.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
> >>5b does not refer to a "scratch-line".
> >>
> >>DanG
> >>
> >>On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:28 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >> > ---------------------- Information from the
> >> mail header -----------------------
> >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >> > Subject:      OED's "bogey" and "par"
> >> >
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >
> >> >>I wonder if the definitions of "bogey" (etc.) and "par" need revision.
> >> >
> >> > Bogey:
> >> > a.  The number of strokes a good player may be
> >> > reckoned to need for the course or for a hole.
> >> > ...
> >> > c. A score of one stroke over par for a hole. U.S.
> >> >
> >> > Par (June 2005):
> >> > 4.a. Golf. The number of strokes which a scratch
> >> > player should need for a hole or for a course
> >> > (freq. with that number as postmodifier). Also:
> >> > (as a count noun) a score of this number of stokes at a hole.
> >> >
> >> > And now for the final term needed to understand "bogey" and "par":
> >> >
> >> > Scratch player:
> >> > s.v. scratch, n., 1.: -- no definition!
> >> >
> >> > So I go up to "scratch" -- the most
> relevant definition(s) seem(s) to be:
> >> > 5.a.  a. Sport. A line or mark drawn as an
> >> > indication of a boundary or starting-point; †in
> >> > Cricket, a ‘crease’ (obs.); in Pugilism, the line
> >> > drawn across the ring, to which boxers are brought for an encounter.
> >> > b.  The starting-point in a handicap of a
> >> > competitor who receives no odds; sometimes
> >> > colloq. used ellipt. for such a competitor. Also
> >> > fig.; esp. in phr. from scratch, from a position
> >> > of no advantage, knowledge, influence, etc., from nothing.
> >> >
> >> > But surely there's no scratch line in golf!
> >> >
> >> > Joel
> >> >
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