Antedating of "Birdie" (Golf)

Mon Oct 8 18:28:08 UTC 2012

Excellent antedating, Fred and Stephen.

The LA84 Foundation website has the first issue of the magazine "The
American Golfer" in 1908 and it contained the term "birdie" in quotes:

Cite: 1908 November, The American Golfer, Volume 1, Number 1,
Four-Ball Matches by Leighton Calkins, Start Page 18, Quote Page 19,
New York. (LA84 Foundation)

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/AmericanGolfer/1908/ag11g.pdf

[Begin excerpt]
The four ball match stands out in striking contrast. Brilliant play
abounds, and a match is seldom won in any other way. With all four
players evenly matched, it is generally necessary for one of them to
"jump out of the bunch" with a "birdie" in order to capture a hole.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 5:12 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Birdie" (Golf)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The American Golfer vol. 1 no. 3, January, 1909, page 127 col. 2:
> A much mooted question is "who was the father of _Birdies_?" That distinction certainly belongs to....
>
> Etc. at:
> http://books.google.com/books?id=NIoCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=birdie+golf&source=bl&ots=6kan6YrFfl&sig=CLLy-kmaI345z3gZv2aR41P-jc8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kJdyUMLLG5Si8gSn3YC4CA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=birdie%20golf&f=false
>
> Stephen Goranson
> www.duke.edu/~goranson
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Shapiro, Fred [fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU]
> Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 10:41 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of "Birdie" (Golf)
>
> birdie. n. (OED, 2., 1921)
>
> 1910 _New-York Tribune_ 30 Oct. 13 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  Brown also won the "birdie" competition, making six holes in one stroke less than par.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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