[Ads-l] Does "The buck stops here'' stop here?

[Andy Bach]

[sent too soon]
> For "euchre" read "poker." ("Ante, and pass the buck!" is used as a slang
phrase by Mark Twain in one of his earliest writings.)

Just read Mark Twain's Hawaii dispatches (also collected/expanded in
Roughing It) and in there he uses the phrase "euchre deck"[1] referring to
a whaler ship, but, as a phrase, google only gave me back the Twain use.  I
was wondering if it was somehow related to the game Euchre played here, at
least in WI, that's nothing like poker, except that the deal does pass from
player to player and "stealing the deal" is considered fair play ... well,
in some circles.  There is an advantage to being the dealer in the game.
However, "poker deck" whaling ship gets a lot of card decks with ships on
them.


[1]

https://futureboy.us/twain/roughing/rough64.html

The Captain's whip came down fast, and the blows started so much dust out
of the horse's hide that during the last half of the journey we rode
through an impenetrable fog, and ran by a pocket compass in the hands of
Captain Fish, a whaler of twenty-six years experience, who sat there
through the perilous voyage as self-possessed as if he had been on the
euchre-deck of his own ship, and calmly said, "Port your helm--port," from
time to time, and "Hold her a little free--steady--so-- so," and
"Luff--hard down to starboard!" and never once lost his presence of mind or
betrayed the least anxiety by voice or manner. When we came to anchor at
last, and Captain Phillips looked at his watch and said, "Sixteen
minutes--I told you it was in her! that's over three miles an hour!" I
could see he felt entitled to a compliment, and so I said I had never seen
lightning go like that horse. And I never had.


On Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 11:41 AM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:

> > For "euchre" read "poker." ("Ante, and pass the buck!" is used as a
> slang phrase by Mark Twain in one of his earliest writings.)
>
> Just read Mark Twain's Hawaii dispatches (also collected/expanded in
> Roughing It) and in there he uses the phrase "euchre deck"
>
> On Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 12:21 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks to Fred for the warning concerning the reliability of the dates
>> assigned to the 19th century American "Hoyle" books.
>>
>> Here is a citation with a solid 1874 date which describes a "buck" as
>> "a knife or key, or other small article". This New Zealand newspaper
>> article was clipped by Peter Reitan in January of this year.
>>
>> Date: July 9, 1874
>> Newspaper: The Clutha Leader
>> Newspaper Location: Clutha, Otago, New Zealand
>> Article: Cards: Varieties of Poker
>> Quote Page 4, Column 7
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-clutha-leader/139434983/
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> To avoid confusion it is better at straight poker for the first dealer
>> at the commencement to put up a sum equal to an ante from
>> each--generally a knife or key, or other small article--which is
>> redeemed at its nominal value when the play ceases. Thus, if four are
>> playing and the ante is one chip, the "buck" (as it is called) would
>> be valued at four chips. The dealer puts up four chips and passes the
>> buck to the player on his left.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> The theory that "buck" was derived from a knife with a buck-horn
>> handle was tentatively proposed in a "Hoyle" book with an assigned
>> date of 1887. Unfortunately, as Fred has noted, this date might be
>> inaccurate; hence, other citations would be welcome.
>>
>> Date: Copyright 1887 (Warning: This date may be misleading)
>> Book Title: The Standard Hoyle: A Complete Guide
>> Section: Draw Poker
>> Quote Page 127
>> Publisher: Excelsior Publishing House, New York
>>
>>
>> https://books.google.com/books?id=3sgWAAAAYAAJ&q=+%22buck+horn%22#v=snippet&q=%22buck%20horn%22&f=false
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Originally the Buck was a pocket-knife passing always to the left,
>> indicating only the deal. Perhaps from the handle of the knife being
>> of buck-horn, the term is derived. By a process of evolution, the buck
>> in Poker is made sometimes a representative of value, and can be put
>> up by the Age. It may designate a certain number of chips, say, for
>> instance, five. Then if the Age makes his blind good, he puts up five
>> more chips. The rest of the players, when they come in, do the same
>> thing. The person who wins it when he is the Age, puts up the buck.
>> When the game is over, the person who has issued the buck redeems it,
>> at the value he put on it.
>> . . .
>> A knife is not an obligatory buck. In the Far West, a revolver on the
>> table sometimes serves the purpose of a buck.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Here is a citation with a solid 1926 date which mentions the buck-horn
>> knife handle theory.
>>
>> Date: January 21, 1926
>> Newspaper: Cleveland Plain Dealer
>> Newspaper Location: Cleveland, Ohio
>> Article: Philosopher of Folly
>> Author:  Ted Robinson
>> Quote Page 6, Column 3
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> The Philadelphia Evening Ledger tells us that "in the old pioneer days
>> when bold men in wild places sat down to play euchre, a buckthorn
>> knife lay before the dealer, and was passed on as the deal ran around
>> the table. Hence 'passing the buck,' which presently in metaphoric
>> form became 'the waiving of responsibility.'"
>>
>> Now what do you apprehend concerning that? In a British newspaper, I
>> should have passed it with a smile, for the Britishest possible
>> explanation of an American phrase. But why should an American paper
>> consider it necessary to explain a phrase whose origin nine out of ten
>> people must be thoroughly aware of? And how can an American paper make
>> two mistakes in one explanation of such a phrase?
>>
>> For "euchre" read "poker." ("Ante, and pass the buck!" is used as a
>> slang phrase by Mark Twain in one of his earliest writings.) And for
>> "buckthorn" read "buck-horn." But perhaps that last is a typographical
>> error.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Garson
>>
>
> --
>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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