[Ads-l] juice = ink for marking cards, juice(d) cards; bug juice/Kool-Aid (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

Marked cards are called "readers" (OED: 1887).  Cards which have been "juiced", or subtly tinted with a colored solution such that they can only be distinguished through colored contact lenses or spectacles are called "luminous readers".   I've seen descriptions of their use as far back as 1826 (without using these terms in describing them).

Readers
_Boston Weekly Globe_ 15 Dec 1886 p 3 col 6 [newspapers.com]
"This is performed with marked cards, or what are called "readers." . . . These marked cards or "readers" are made and sold largely in America by circular, and a single pack costs as much as a "fiver.""

Luminous Readers
_Winnipeg Tribune_ 2 Mar 1940  sec 2 p 5 (whole page # 32) col 2 [newspapers.com]
"This innocent-looking eyeshade made by Mason & Co., Chicago, enables the user to tell "luminous readers" -- cards which the catalogue says "do not bear any visible mark, but when viewed with our Luminous Visor the work appears as plain as the figure 8 on the back of the cut pictured.""


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 8:33 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: juice = ink for marking cards, juice(d) cards; bug juice/Kool-Aid
> 
> 
> ----
> 
> BB's post seems to clarify the def. of the verb given in HDAS: "_Gamb._ to tamper with (a deck of cards)."

I think it means to tamper in a very specific way, that is, to tint them with barely-visible colored ink.


> 
> twenty-odd years ago it wasn't clear to me what the precise nature of the "juicing" might be. (I believe I thought it implied making them
> more "lively" or favorable.)
> 
> Anyway, the sole cite came from the hit film _The Cincinnati Kd_ (1965).
> 
> JL
> 
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 3:15 AM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > Both the Oxford English Dictionary site (
> > http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/americ
> > an_english/juice <
> > http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/americ
> > an_english/juice>) and Wiktionary
> > (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/juice) provide a range
> > of meanings for the word “juice,” but none provide a scope that
> > captures the meaning of a dye for marking cards so they can be
> > identified with special sunglasses or contact lenses.
> >
> > I assume the word “juice” comes from “lemon juice invisible ink” (
> > http://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Invisible-Ink-Message <
> > http://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Invisible-Ink-Message>)
> > . I have a vague recollection of reading about it in some book about
> > codes and ciphers as a kid and trying it out (I thought the obvious
> > faded yellow was an utterly stupid technique).
> >
> > 1. The Marked Cards Organization has a “Juice Ink Kit Deluxe” for $500:
> >
> > http://www.markedcards.org/juice-ink-kit-deluxe-for-pl
> > astic-cards.html <
> > http://www.markedcards.org/juice-ink-kit-deluxe-for-pl
> > astic-cards.html>
> >
> > 2. The Marked Cards Organization also sells a range of juice decks for
> > much less:
> >
> > http://www.markedcards.org/juice.html <
> > http://www.markedcards.org/juice.html>
> >
> > 3. Chen lynn has posted a www.buymarkedcards.com <
> > http://www.buymarkedcards.com/> video about juice
> > cards at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi73HK9Rm6o <
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi73HK9Rm6o>.
> >
> > 4. Also from buymarkedcars.com (
> > http://www.buymarkedcards.com/ntp-marked-cards.shtml <
> > http://www.buymarkedcards.com/ntp-marked-cards.shtml>) is “juiced cards”:
> >
> > =====
> > When you wear special contact lenses, you can read the marks in the
> > middle of the back of the juiced cards, but the naked eyes cannot see them.
> > =====
> >
> >
> > Benjamin Barrett
> > Formerly of Seattle, WA
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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