turf war

English

Alternative forms

• turfwar

Etymology

The phrase may have originated as a reference to the game of American football where two teams confront each other on a field of grass or turf.(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɚf woɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜːf wɔː/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

turf war (plural turf wars)

1. A dispute over territory between rival gangs.
2. (idiomatic) A fight or confrontation between two divisions or parties for access to resources or capital.
   • 2014 July 18, Thomas Christie, Notional Identities: Ideology, Genre and National Identity in Popular Scottish Fiction Since the Seventies‎, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 202:

     It's a fascinating distinction, and one that also has the neat effect of moving the debate on from the contentious territory of the SF/litfic turfwar into that of value-neutral literary theory.