The verb word stymie, meaning to obstruct something, originally referred to a now obsolete rule in which sport?
Stymie Stymie A stymie is an archaic rule in the game of golf for a situation or problem presenting such difficulties as to discourage or defeat any attempt to deal with or resolve it. Various changes to the stymie rule were enacted in 1938 and 1941. Finally, in 1952, the stymie rule was totally removed from the rules of golf when the USGA and R&A established a joint set of rules. In singles match play when one player's ball blocked the path of another player's ball on the green, but were not within six inches of each other, the obstructing player's
Plain meaning rule Plain meaning rule The plain meaning rule, also known as the literal rule, is one of three rules of statutory construction traditionally applied by English courts. The other two are the "mischief rule" and the "golden rule". The plain meaning rule dictates that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute. In other words, a statute is to be read word for word and is to be interpreted according to the ordinary meaning of the language, unless a statute explicitly defines some of its terms otherwise or unless the result would be cruel