Ryder Cup 2016
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Sep 29th, 2016
Why do people shout Baba Booey & Mashed Potato?
Come on chaps, come up with something new...
Words: Daniel Owen
American golf shouts. As the Ryder Cup has proved they're pretty rubbish. “Gedinthahole!!!.” “Youdaman!!!”. At least they make some sense, it's just that they’re particularly unimaginative. They almost make a monotonous chant of “USA! USA!” sound intelligent. Almost. But Baba Booey, and Mashed Potato? They are actually nonsense. Without sounding to Daily Mail on it, get a grip and shut up. We're all for having a laugh, but these shouts are just inane.
Baba Booey
This is so random. There's absolutely no golf reference to this shout at all.
Baba Booey is the nickname of American Shock Jock Howard Stern’s radio producer, Gary Dell’Abate.
He got it after mispronouncing Baba Looey, the donkey from Quick Draw McGraw. There's nothing more interesting to it than that. No one knows why it’s used on the golf course. We really wish it wasn't.
Mashed Potato
This shout might be the worst of all. Mashed potato came from one golfer wanting his mum to spot him on TV. Andrew Widmar first shouted it at the 2011 Chevron World Challenge after Tiger hit a stinger.
His mum wanted to know how she could spot Widmar at the course. “What are you wearing?” she asked. “Where will you be?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “But if you hear ‘mashed potatoes,’ you’ll know I was there.”
“I’d seen it before on YouTube,” said Widmar. “My friends thought it was stupid, but I thought it was hilarious. I wish I could take credit for starting it, but I will take credit for it becoming popular. It’s a good one to yell, because it’s nice and quick and it means absolutely nothing.”
Idiot.
Come up with something new. Use your wits. Have fun. No one is saying you need to be silent, just come up with something entertaining. Or at the very least, makes some sense!