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Posted by Bob on March 27, 2004

In Reply to: Thanks to you dear people who helped me lately posted by Miri Barak on March 24, 2004

: : : : yes now it's golf.

: : : : context: a guy tries to rob a golf pro-shop and while trying to get out he triggers the alarm.

: : : : At the end the narrator says:
: : : : "While it would be nice to think that this guy was carted off to jail for a new hole-in-one, he got away scot-free."

: : : : I understand the general meaning that instead of police taking him to jail, he is scot-free.
: : : : But I don't understand the part of "for a new hole-in one,".
: : : : I know this is a golf term for getting the ball into the hole in one stroke, is it a positive thing? I guess yes, but how does it connect here?
: : : : what's the point?

: : : : Can anyone explain the joke to me? well, not exactly a joke, but trying to be funny.

: : : : Thanks a lot
: : : : .

: : : In America, "hole" is meant for a individual confinement cell in a jail. An inmate trouble maker can be warned by detention officers to be "taken to the hole", where he will be isolated and deprived of some "privilèges". But "take to the hole" is also widely used for "take to jail".

: : Thanks a lot, I'll be able to improvise something.

There may be a little pun involved here. "Hole" may refer to the perpetrator's anus. One popular myth (perhaps with some basis in truth) is that being hauled off to prison in American means the threat of homosexual rape. (It motivates a lot of men to avoid committing felonies.) The phrase "cut him a new one" is a threatening promise of a similar bent: punishment so severe it results in a new ... bodily orifice. Combining that background with the golf-oriented "hole in one" makes for the little joke.

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