[Ads-l] three card monte (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I believe that "Thimble riggers" refers to people who run a "shell
game" scam. So it is a different game, but it shares some points of
similarity with "three card monte". The victim thinks that there is an
object that is hidden in one of three locations.

Merriam Webster has an entry for: thimblerig
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thimblerig
[Begin excerpt]
1:  a swindling trick in which a small ball or pea is quickly shifted
from under one to another of three small cups to fool the spectator
guessing its location
2:  one who manipulates the cup in thimblerig :  thimblerigger
[End excerpt]

I also believe that "three card game", "French monte", and "three card
monte" all refer to the same game in the citations I gave previously.

The OED seems to equate "three card game" and "three card monte".

Garson


On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 6:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: three card monte (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The "little joker" is usually the pea in a thimble game.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 6:20 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: three card monte (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 10:03 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
>> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > the thimble-rigger ventures to hint that he will risk the like amount
>> upon
>> > an anxious search for the "little joker."
>> >
>>
>> So, the thimble-rigger is a kind of shill for the monte-man? Or does the
>> anxious search for the "little joker" refer to a different game?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
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>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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