In golf, scores one stroke over par on a hole; in other contexts, things that cause worry or fear.
From 'bogey' (possibly from a mischievous sprite or from 'Colonel Bogey'), which entered golf terminology in the late 1800s when 'Colonel Bogey' was a phantom player representing par.
The golf term 'bogey' originated when golfers imagined an invisible 'Colonel Bogey' as the standard to beat—he was like golf's imaginary rival—and the term stuck even as it evolved from meaning 'par' to meaning 'one over par.'
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