"look the jack of diamonds in the eye", and "bigger than Dallas"

[william salmon]

Wondering about origins of these two expressions.  Google doesn't do too
well with the first.

As for 'bigger than Dallas', I heard this often growing up in Texas, but I
come across it from time to time in non-Texas contexts as well. For example,
in Seth Morgan's San Francisco prison novel *Homeboy*, 'bigger than Dallas'
is used frequently by non-Texan characters. I don't think Morgan himself was
from Texas either.

WS

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