[Ads-l] cut the cards (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Peter Reitan]

A humorous story from 1885 makes a similar point about always cutting cards:

>From the Jeffersonian Gazette (Lawrence, Kansas), Decmeber 31, 1885, page 3 (newspapers.com):

A Hard Game to Sit down To.
Eastern Man (out West) - Do you play a gentleman's game of poker here?
Western Man - What's a gent's game, stranger?
Eastern Man - Taking a gentleman's word for what he's got and omitting to cut the cards.
Western Man - Wall, I don't take a gent's word in these parts, an' as for cuttin', stranger, you kin do as you like, I most allers shoots.  Will you jine us?
Eastern Man - N'n'not to-day. - N. Y. Sun.

________________________________
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Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 12:02 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: cut the cards (UNCLASSIFIED)

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Subject:      Re: cut the cards (UNCLASSIFIED)
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"The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" (pg.34) has an entry pointing to
the Mr. Dooley citation mentioned by Bill.

[Begin excerpt]
Trust everyone (all men), but cut the cards.

1900 The saying passed into oral tradition as a proverb from Finley
Peter Dunne=E2=80=99s Mr. Dooley=E2=80=99s Philosophy (in a list of =E2=80=
=9Ccasual
observations=E2=80=9D): =E2=80=9CTrust ivrybody=E2=80=94but cut th=E2=80=99=
 ca-ards=E2=80=9D=E2=80=94unless Mr.
Dooley=E2=80=99s dialect aphorism was itself an adaptation of an existing
proverb. RHDP 342. Cf. =E2=80=9Ctrust but verify=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9CTrus=
t god, but lock
your door.=E2=80=9D
[End excerpt]

Here are three cites that only provide partial matches.

In the following 1888 citation the phrase "must cut the cards
occasionally" is used figuratively within a maxim that did not become
popular.

Date: July 6, 1888
Newspaper: The Republican-Plaindealer
Newspaper Location: Garnett, Kansas
Article: Curb-Stone Jottings by Our Invisible Reporter
Quote Page 1, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
The guileless and confiding granger of the great west is still willing
to do business with his Yankee brother of the azure abdomen, but be
must not get too smart. Uncle Sam must cut the cards occasionally and
see that all the boys play fair.
[End excerpt]

In 1894 the injunction "Always Cut the Cards" appeared as the title of
a filler item in a Pennsylvanian newspaper although the meaning is not
clear (to me).

Date: January 4, 1894
Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel (The Sentinel)
Newspaper Location: Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Article: (Filler item)
Quote Page 3, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Always Cut the Cards.

And if you should be lucky enough to turn up Kelcy and Kennedy in "The
Flying Vulture" you will have a couple of jokers that will break your
heart.
[End excerpt]

In 1899 the phrase "must cut the cards" was used in an extended
metaphor concerning a "new deal" in politics:

Date: July 13, 1899
Newspaper: The Times
Newspaper Location: Clay Center, Kansas
Article: (Filler item)
Quote Page 2, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Ingalls announces that there must be a "new deal" in politics, but the
man on the right must cut the cards, and then the deal conducted above
the table and not from the bottom of the pack.
[End excerpt]

Back in 2011 I initiated a thread concerning "Put your trust in God,
my boys, and keep your powder dry" and "My boys trust in the Lord, and
keep your powder dry."

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-January/106313.html

Garson
On Tue, Oct 16, 2018 at 4:08 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> "The Expert at the Card Table" is a seminal book on sleight of hand with =
cards, and an interest of mine (the author, S. W. Erdnase, is presumed to h=
ave been named E. S. Andrews [reversal], and is otherwise unknown).  A fell=
ow devotee asked me about a quote from it:
> ""Put your faith in Providence, but always cut the cards," is a wise inju=
nction."
>
> This is the earliest we've been able to find this particular variant.
>
> Finley Peter Dunne wrote Irish dialect pieces.  His 1900 book, "Mr. Doole=
y's Philosophy" has the variant:
> "Thrust ivrybody -- but cut th' ca-ards."  He wrote in several Chicago ne=
wspapers in the 1890s, so this may be a reprint from one of them, but I've =
not been able to locate it.
>
> "Expert at the Card Table" was published in Chicago in 1902, so it may be=
 that Erdnase read Dooley and cleaned up the quote and used it in his book.
>
> I find "Put your faith in Providence and keep your powder dry" in 1894 (n=
ewspapers.com).
>
> The "cut the cards" version is of greatest interest to me; does anyone kn=
ow of any earlier uses?
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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