old wives tells (and others)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 12:05 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> On Feb 17, 2014, at 11:43 AM, Herb Stahlke wrote:
>
>> "Old wives tell" sounds like a Southern variety that laxes tense vowels
>> before /l/.
>>
> Unless it refers to an indication (eye- or lip-twitch, posture change, quality of speech,
> etc.) on the part of a poker player that inadvertently reveals (= "telegraphs") the
> strength or weakness of his or her hand--perhaps old wives (or women) could have
> different tells from younger ones, or from men.
>
> Curiously, this "tell", n., which is common enough at least in poker lingo to have its
> own (albeit brief) Wikipedia page, has no lemma in either the OED or AHD5.  I'm
> pretty sure nominal "tell" in this sense has been known to spread to, say, spy or
> diplomacy scenes in movies or books, in non-poker contexts that involve the
> running of a bluff.  And possibly also to sports contexts baseball or football, for a
> pitcher or infielder who reveals via a tell whether the upcoming pitch is a slider or
> fast ball, or a baserunner may have a "tell" for whether he's planning to try to steal
> a base.  An offensive lineman in football might could have a "tell" for whether a
>  running play or pass has been called, or a linebacker for whether he's planning to
>  blitz.  I suspect I've heard "tell" used in such cases, but I can't be certain.  Or how
> about hockey shoot-outs, for either the penalty shooter or the goalie?  Alice or
> anyone, can you help out?  And why no dictionary entries?

Not in OED, because the "tell" entry hasn't been revised in over a
century. But Oxford Dictionaries (in both US and UK flavors) has it:
"(especially in poker) an unconscious action that is thought to betray
an attempted deception."

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/tell
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tell

--bgz


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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