# How did "club" ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621 "2012-08-06T15:54:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/1 "2012-08-06T15:54:57Z")
…come to mean “something you whack things with” as well as “a group of people who gather together for a specific purpose”? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/2 "2012-08-06T15:56:47Z")
[From Etymonline:](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=club&searchmode=none) > [@](#): > > .1200, “thick stick used as a weapon,” from O.N. klubba “cudgel,” from P.Gmc. \*klumbon, related to clump. O.E. words for this were sagol, cycgel. Specific sense of “bat used in games” is from mid-15c. The social club (1660s) apparently evolved from this word 17c. from the verbal sense “gather in a club-like mass” (1620s), then “association of people” (1640s). ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/3 "2012-08-06T16:10:09Z")
if you were really unpopular what would you use to get a group of people to associate with you? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/4 "2012-08-06T17:49:12Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > …come to mean “something you whack things with” as well as “a group of people who gather together for a specific purpose”? my first though was sometimes you need to get a group together to deliver a needed beat down on the villiage fuckup. Not much of a stretch to a “we need to go club this guy” to “wanna join in on the club” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/5 "2012-08-06T21:35:23Z")
Related question : Do other English dialects besides South African have the phrase “club together”, in the sense of pooling your money together for e.g. a group present? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/6 "2012-08-06T21:38:12Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Related question : Do other English dialects besides South African have the phrase “club together”, in the sense of pooling your money together for e.g. a group present? Yes. I’m not sure if American English does, but I understand the phrase. I just don’t hear it that often in any dialect, but I have heard it several times. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/7 "2012-08-06T21:57:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Related question : Do other English dialects besides South African have the phrase “club together”, in the sense of pooling your money together for e.g. a group present? It’s certainly used in British English. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/8 "2012-08-06T22:04:10Z")
Missed the edit window. Here are some cites from OED for _club together_ in the sense pooling one’s money. > [@](#): > > 1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxvi. 87 Several of us clubbed together and bought a large piece of twilled cotton. > 1860 G. J. Adler tr. C. C. Fauriel Hist. Provençal Poetry v. 75 Other cities..clubbed together to support a professor in common. > 1889 Boy’s Own Paper 10 Aug. 714/1 We..clubbed together to purchase an American clock. Dana was an American writer so the phrase seems to be used in the US too, In earlier cites _club_ is used in the same sense without _together_. > [@](#): > > 1709 Tatler No. 137. ⁋3 We resolved to club for a Coach. > a1734 R. North Lives of Norths II. 175 These Six-clerks clubbed and made a present to his lordship of £1000. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/9 "2012-08-07T01:24:59Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Dana was an American writer so the phrase seems to be used in the US too Or, at least it was in 1840. As **Ludovic** notes, I could certainly parse out what the term meant if I heard it in conversation, but it’s a term I’ve never heard used in modern American English…we’d probably say, “pooled our resources” or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/10 "2012-08-07T02:50:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As **Ludovic** notes, I could certainly parse out what the term meant if I heard it in conversation, but it’s a term I’ve never heard used in modern American English…we’d probably say, “pooled our resources” or something like that. Same here, I’ve never heard the term. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/11 "2012-08-07T04:48:35Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > my first though was sometimes you need to get a group together to deliver a needed beat down on the villiage fuckup. Not much of a stretch to a “we need to go club this guy” to “wanna join in on the club” And after sundown it would, of course, be a Nightclub. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/12 "2012-08-07T05:34:39Z")
I know that Cecil [sorta](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/276/whats-the-origin-of-the-suit-designations-on-playing-cards) answered this, but where does club as “black three leaf clover in playing cards” originate? It doesn’t look anything like a club at all… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/13 "2012-08-07T13:40:14Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > I know that Cecil [sorta](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/276/whats-the-origin-of-the-suit-designations-on-playing-cards) answered this, but where does club as “black three leaf clover in playing cards” originate? It doesn’t look anything like a club at all… Apparently, the Spanish and Italian decks had a suit with a club on it, but somehow in English, the French trefoil was adopted for that suit. [Cite.](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/35425/flowers-card-suit) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/14 "2012-08-07T13:47:40Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > And after sundown it would, of course, be a Nightclub. Or if it’s a mace used by a feudal horseman it would be a knightclub. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/15 "2012-08-07T14:37:05Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Or if it’s a mace used by a feudal horseman it would be a knightclub. …Or a club that knights belonged to. The Knights of the Round Club Club sound like someone being hit on the head. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/16 "2012-08-08T21:36:20Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > I know that Cecil [sorta](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/276/whats-the-origin-of-the-suit-designations-on-playing-cards) answered this, but where does club as “black three leaf clover in playing cards” originate? It doesn’t look anything like a club at all… That’s an odd question, seeing as a spade (♠) looks like a [garden spade](http://www.clipartguide.com/_named_clipart_images/0511-0907-3023-4111_Garden_Tool-Spade_clipart_image.jpg). Your question is much more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/17 "2012-08-09T00:08:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Or, at least it was in 1840. > > As **Ludovic** notes, I could certainly parse out what the term meant if I heard it in conversation, but it’s a term I’ve never heard used in modern American English…we’d probably say, “pooled our resources” or something like that. “Office pool” is the phrase I hear most often, but most times it’s just “going in together” on something. I’ve never heard club together for money. Good interesting question, btw. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-club/630621/18 "2012-08-09T00:30:48Z")
Just a wild-assed-guess, but the traditional stereotypical club was made from the trunk and trimmed roots of a sapling- possibly because that was an extra-hard or tough part of the wood? So you had all the knobbly bits where the roots were trimmed off, and often the sapling was a bunch of fused seedlings so you did have a “club” of wooden stems.