SPORTS JARGON

BIRDIE:Meaning, a hole played one stroke under par.

Origin: Yet another sporting term with disputed origins. The most widely believed version credits Ab Smith for giving birth to the "birdie". The US Golf Association cites the account of a match at the Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey in 1899 involving Smith, his brother William and their friend George A Crump (a golf course architect who later designed and built Pine Valley Golf Club). "My ball came to rest within six inches of the cup," Smith was quoted as saying in HB Martin's "Fifty Years of American Golf". "I said 'That was a bird of a shot . . . I suggest that when one of us plays a hole in one under par he receives double compensation.' The other two agreed and we began right away, just as soon as the next one came, to call it a 'birdie'." Back then "bird" was slang for excellent or brilliant. The other members of the club began to use the term and as a popular club for visiting players it soon caught on.

What about eagles and albatrosses?Legend has it the feathered theme was extended. An eagle (two strokes under par) is bigger than your average birdie, and an albatross (three under is bigger again. And then there's the vulture, the condor - the not so common hole-in-one on a par five.