Coffeehouse?!

[Victor Steinbok]

"We" called it kibitzing, but we were doing a lot more of it in bridge
than in poker. Priorities, priorities... Poker was a much more serious
game. (But don't tell the guys I played with who ended up on national
teams for bridge--they took it quite seriously.)

     VS-)

On 1/10/2012 10:40 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> There's also the verb "to coffeehouse" (and the gerund "coffeehousing") =
> used in poker to refer to the practice of chatting during play, =
> typically with the intention of misrepresenting the strength of one's =
> hand.  Not in the OED, but it may be a spinoff of a compound verb that =
> is, with fox-hunting related cites going back to 1861:
>
> coffee-house, v.
>
> To indulge in gossip (orig. while waiting for the hounds to draw a =
> covert, etc., during a fox-hunt)
>
> LH
>
> On Jan 10, 2012, at 4:39 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>
>> Grammar Girl decides to use "coffeehouse" =
> (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/hyphens-in-compound-words.aspx) =
> while I'm like "What?" She claims that different dictionaries variously =
> hyphenate, open or close this compound.
>> =20
>> Sure enough, Wiktionary gives the open and hyphenated forms as =
> alternatives to "coffeehouse" =
> (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coffeehouse) and the AHD has the open =
> form as an alternative to "coffeehouse" =
> (http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=3Dcoffeehouse&submit.x=3D0&sub=
> mit.y=3D0). My Mac spell checker doesn't mind the closed form.
>> =20
>> The Mac dictionary has the closed form and provides the Wikipedia =
> article that is also closed.
>> =20
>> The OED has citations only through 1876; all but one are hyphenated. =
> (Also, the OED definition and comment are also outdated.)
>> =20
>> I don't see myself using the hyphenated or closed form soon, but, to =
> coin a phrase, YouNeverKnow.
>> =20
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Seattle, WA
>> =20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org