Abby
Abby asked:

In the historical notes, there is this line: ...Limpkin describes the latter as a stuffed shirt, and, I quote, "somebody for whom foreplay is what you do on a golf course." (Laughter.) I'm sure it's obvious or simple but I still don't really get the joke... Would anyone care to explain it to me?

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Lynda It is a play on words, Foreplay as in the flirting and kissing and touching that goes on before the actual act of sex, or in the game of golf -the word fore is called before the player strikes the ball. I imagine that equating the 1st to the second shows that there was no actual foreplay in the sex. Rather you can imagine him standing legs astride, as on a golf course, looking at the hole in the ground, looking at the ball again getting the distance and direction right, and then hitting to get it in there. Similar to how he thought about putting his penis in to a woman.
Terry Foreplay is all the intimacy fun before intercourse (duh!) The joke is the guy is awful in bed. He has no idea what sex foreplay is.
Anette My best guess is that it refers to the expression "fore!", used in the game of golf... but I'm not sure.
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by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)
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