[Ads-l] eucre (card game) antedated to 1837 (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon Jul 20 17:28:10 UTC 2015

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

This was antedated to 1835 here:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2013-March/126346.html in 2013, as were a number of other card playing terms:

Full House (Poker) (OED = 1887)

_San Francisco Bulletin_ 2/7/1881 p 4 col 4
"The lecturer who had an audience of three old maids and one man and his
wife said he drew a full house -- three of a kind and a pair."
[reprinted from the _Boston Post_]

_Cleveland [OH] Leader_ 12/5/1881 p 8 col 3
" The manner and freedom with which one beautiful little creature scaled
off column after column of the rules and laws of poker, and the values
of "pairs," "triplets," "flushes," "a full house," "four of a kind," and
, catching her breath, vouchsafed the statement that "'straights' don't
count,'=" would have done credit to General Schenck, and imbued the
knowledge-seeking reporter with a desire to gain practical knowledge of
the game from such a charming and well-informed teacher."

Straight Flush (OED = 1882)
Gerritt M. Evans _How Gamblers Win_ NY:  Gerritt M. Evans, 1865 p 18
"The same journal also, in an answer to a correspondent, states that a
"Straight Flush" beats a "Full Hand," the Flush beating the threes, and
the Straight beating the pair."
_New York Clipper_ Jan 25 1868 p 330 col 2
"A straight flush does not count at poker, except as a flush, unless it
is specially agreed upon before commencing."

1869 _The Spirit of the Times_ 30 Jan p 371 col 1
"When the difficulty of getting it is considered, it <i> ought </i> to
beat three; but upon the same reasoning a straight flush <i> ought </i>
to beat four aces, but it does not."

Euchre
St Louis MO _Daily Commercial Bulletin_ 7/8/1835 p 2 col 1
"Some scores of "sportsmen," each a mighty dab in "Brag," "Poker,"
"Eucre" "

New Orleans LA _Times-Picayune_ 9/1/1841 p 2 col 4
"They are sometimes a week in returning, and usually amuse themselves by
playing Euchre, Brag, Poker, &c."

Wild Card (OED = 1940)

_Chicago Daily Tribune_ 3/27/1921 sec 2 p 1
"A good variation of five card stud is one wild card faced in the center
which every one can use."

Rockford IL _Morning Star_ 12/30/1921 p 3 col3
"Shortly before midnight, with $3 in the pot, and Galligan dealing,
Carmody is said by Galligan to have secured a "joker", which was a wild
card, from the dealer's hand."

Joker  (OED = 1885)
_Jamestown [NY] Journal 2/11/1870 p 4 col 3
"In addition to that she can play a lone hand without the right bower
and joker, run a Sewers Singing Machine [sic] and is a champion
skatist."

Full Boat (= Full House; not in OED)
_Seattle Times_ 5/6/1965 p 37 col 5
"Although Dr. Bluementhal doesn't know a straight flush from a "full
boat," she strongly feels that poker demands an all-male setting, "in
which the gracious tea-serving hostess is more unthinkable than a female
candidate for President."

A. D. Livingston _Poker Strategy and Winning Play_ Philadelphia and NY:
J. B. Lippincott, 1971  p 214 col 2
"Boat, Full Boat: Same as a Full House."

Dale Armstrong _Win at Gin and Poker_ NY: Winchester Press, 1977 p 153
"Full House -- three cards of one rank and a pair.  Also called "full
barn," "full boat," "fullzies," etc."

_LA Times_ 5/13/1977 p 1 col 2
"Sure enough:  just a year ago, he had backed pairs of 10s and deuces
against Jerusalem Alto's paired aces and jacks, and caught another 10
for a full boat and the championship."

Arkansas Toothpick (OED has 1881)
Philadelphia _Public Ledger_ 8/29/1837 p 2 col 4
"The Legislature of Alabama, at its recent session have passes a law
providing that if any person, with a Bowie knife, "Arkansas toothpick,"
or any weapon resembling the same, shall cut or stab another by reason
of which he dies, it shall be adjudged murder, and the offender shall
suffer the same as if the killing had been by malice aforethought."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Stephen Goranson
> Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2015 10:38 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: eucre (card game) antedated to 1837
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      eucre (card game) antedated to 1837
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> OED has euchre (various spellings) from 1841.
> 
> 
> The Devil's Walk in New Orleans. No. 1
> 
> ....
> 
> Quoth Nick-- "On my word,
> 
> "There's good gambling on board,
> 
> "I'll cut in,"--and a hand he soon took:
> 
> And both at poker and eucre,
> 
> He soon won all their lucre,--
> 
> Quoth he--"sure I've the devil's own luck."
> 
> ....
> 
> 
> The Picayune, New Orleans Feb. 8, 1837 p. 2 col. 3. [AmHistN]
> 
> 
> Stephen Goranson
> 
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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