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)

A dispute over territory between rival gangs.
(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^[1], 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.