gin game

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yes, John. Please forward. How can I say no?

JL

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 4:11 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: gin game
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        I have contacted Daniella Romano, Director of the Brooklyn Navy
> Yard Archive, and she has been kind enough to provide me with scans of
> the card, which I will be happy to forward to any list members who
> request, either via the list or by private email.
>
>        While I am not by any means a qualified professional, and I have
> no other samples of the correspondent's writing, I think the word
> originally identified as "gin" clearly starts with the letter g,
> eliminating "con game" as a possibility.  However, I am far less sure of
> the other letters.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>  Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 6:33 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: gin game
>
> I think it does seem unlikely, because
>
> 1. after the passage of a hundred years no repetition of the usage seems
> to
> have been noticed.
>
> 2. "con game" was in wide use in 1909
>
> 3. with connotations of deception and cheatery that "gin game" usually
> lacks.
>
> Only a painstaking comparison, by qualified professionals, of the
> handwriting on the card against known samples of the correspondent's
> writing
> of both "gin game" and "con game" is likely to resolve the issue, which
> is a
> way of saying that I'm sticking with "con game.".
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 6:16 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: gin game
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> >
> >        "Gin game" seems to have been a fairly common way to refer to a
> > game of gin rummy, even before the play of that name debuted in 1976,
> > and many of the references are to games with money stakes.  An
> extended
> > use does not seem too unlikely.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf
> > Of George Thompson
> > Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 6:05 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: gin game
> >
>  > A good thought.
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > George A. Thompson
> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> > Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > Date: Friday, January 8, 2010 5:54 pm
> > Subject: Re: gin game
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > > If the handwriting is scrawly enough, it may be "con game," which
> > > sounds a
> > > little weird in the context now but I think didn't in 1909.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 4:51 PM, George Thompson
> > <george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> > > > Subject:      gin game
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -------
> > > >
> > > > From an article in today's NYTimes, section C, p. 33, headlined
> > > "Navy Yard
> > > > 'Treasures'", about an archive and museum at the (former) Brooklyn
> > Navy
> > > > Yard.
> > > >
> > > > "The archive has also received a 1909 postcard showing the yard
> > paymaster's
> > > > house; on the back an enraged shipyard worker scrawled to his
> > girlfriend,
> > > > "What kind of a gin game you giving me, taking me for a damn
> fool?""
> > > >
> > > > not in HDAS; app. not in OED; not in Chambers Slang Dictionary.
> > > >
> > > > GAT
> > > >
> > > > George A. Thompson
> > > > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> > Northwestern
> > > > Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
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