[Ads-l] mulligan (golf)--warning: speculative

Mon Jun 7 13:04:53 UTC 2021

I see it very much as a slam dunk. It's a classic case of semantic drift. If you follow the progression of citations it goes from a big swing in baseball to a big drive in golf to a second chance to make a "mulligan" (i.e., big drive) in golf to a do-over in golf.

Supporting that is the figure of the fictional "Swat Milligan/Mulligan," who is all but forgotten today, but was well known to sportswriters and their readers in the opening decades of the 20th century. So, the idea of Mulligan hitting a long ball was very present in the minds of sportswriters and their readers when writing about golf.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 8:05am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] mulligan (golf)--warning: speculative

I agree with Stephen that Peter’s website and his research are truly outstanding. But I also agree with Stephen’s implication that a connection between a big swat and a do-over is very implausible, on semantic grounds.

Fred Shapiro

From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 6:49 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: mulligan (golf)--warning: speculative

Peter's website is indeed quite impressive.
But the leap from a fictional baseball slugger to a flubbed golf swing sub rosa re-do may not be a slam dunk.

SG
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
Sent: Sunday, June 6, 2021 11:24 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: mulligan (golf)--warning: speculative

Peter Reitan pretty definitively found the origin of "mulligan" a few years back. [ https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fesnpc.blogspot.com%2F2017%2F05%2Fhey-mulligan-man-second-shot-at-history.html__%3B!!OToaGQ!7cBOFxHYQp720c_jmUw3dO-x9NC5nzSXHWl-iBzzslHriok2z55N7eSptvnyAkVV%24&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C77e9fe7f00914085e12d08d929a1ee9a%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C1%7C637586597739555308%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0&sdata=7kBiy5qj%2F4%2FP7bAsbjy1CokOb8Hi3Hb%2B%2BNbFV1yh6ec%3D&reserved=0 ]( https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fesnpc.blogspot.com%2F2017%2F05%2Fhey-mulligan-man-second-shot-at-history.html__%3B!!OToaGQ!7cBOFxHYQp720c_jmUw3dO-x9NC5nzSXHWl-iBzzslHriok2z55N7eSptvnyAkVV%24&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C77e9fe7f00914085e12d08d929a1ee9a%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C1%7C637586597739555308%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0&sdata=7kBiy5qj%2F4%2FP7bAsbjy1CokOb8Hi3Hb%2B%2BNbFV1yh6ec%3D&reserved=0 )

All the stories about golfers giving their names to it are false. It actually arose in baseball sports writing.

My own write up, which cribs heavily from him: [ https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordorigins.org%2Fbig-list-entries%2Fmulligan__%3B!!OToaGQ!7cBOFxHYQp720c_jmUw3dO-x9NC5nzSXHWl-iBzzslHriok2z55N7eSptuwC2uFU%24&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C77e9fe7f00914085e12d08d929a1ee9a%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C1%7C637586597739555308%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0&sdata=9f8KrhdzFFlZLZ%2BdNSD74EGHY9xeu%2BZXfIyjF1imgrs%3D&reserved=0 ]( https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordorigins.org%2Fbig-list-entries%2Fmulligan__%3B!!OToaGQ!7cBOFxHYQp720c_jmUw3dO-x9NC5nzSXHWl-iBzzslHriok2z55N7eSptuwC2uFU%24&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C77e9fe7f00914085e12d08d929a1ee9a%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C1%7C637586597739555308%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0&sdata=9f8KrhdzFFlZLZ%2BdNSD74EGHY9xeu%2BZXfIyjF1imgrs%3D&reserved=0 )

-----Original Message-----
From: "Stephen Goranson" <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, June 6, 2021 9:43am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] mulligan (golf)--warning: speculative

(warning; speculative)
Which golfer Mulligan (if any) putatively gave the name to take a mulligan, a re-do swing, is disputed.
(First, never mind the old ballad Finnegan’s Wake, published in 1864.)
An additional (post-Honeymooners) addressing the ball.
Mull it over, again…

Stephen Goranson

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