Tuesday, November 24, 2015

meaning - the sort of people that disillusion you about what a lot of golfing money can do for the personality


Here's from The Long Goodby by Raymond Chandler



At The Dancers they get the sort of people that disillusion you about what a lot of golfing money can do for the personality.



I wonder What this means, particularly what "golfing money" means.


A similar question was asked here. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/198810/what-is-golfing-money



Answer




The Dancers is (likely - I haven't read it) a country club, which usually has a golf course. Country clubs cost a lot of money to join; on top of that, a golf game costs a lot of money for each game. Golf money would imply that someone has enough money to play golf.


In the US, an positive emphasis for many decades (perhaps centuries) was/is placed on being "self-made" - working hard enough to become rich, that is, having all the niceties of life, like a country club membership and golf money. One would think that the character formed from a solid work ethic would bring out good qualities in people. Chandler says it does not; in fact, a lot of money seems to bring out bad traits in people, hence the disillusionment.


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