Random thought thread!

ElGuapo · February 5, 2009, 10:27am

bahimiron:

Most European card games seem to have four suits. However, not all of them use clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades. German suits, for instance, replace diamonds with bells, spades with leaves and clubs with acorns. Italian cards tend to still use the old tarot suits of swords, clubs (meaning something you hit someone with, not three leaved clovers), coins and cups. The number of cards in each suit can vary depending on country and game, but the number of suits generally stays the same. As for the why of those particular markers? It’s hard to say. The Italian/tarot variation are the suits that are found on the oldest cards known, though they could be derived from what was seen as the four medieval classes, where the cups represented the clergy, the swords represented the military, the clubs represented the farmers and the coins represented the merchant class.

The version we use in America and the UK come from a French variation, where they were trying to lower the cost of the cards by using stamps or stencils. The Italian versions took a lot of work and were generally prized, but the simple shapes and pips of the French cards were basically just stamped onto stock and sold in a pack. Which is where the shapes we know today came from. Hooray.

This interesting tidbit of knowledge made this thread worth it by itself. Now we just need George Clooney to give this speech during his next poker movie.

madkevin · February 5, 2009, 10:29am

There is an Italian card game, played with the Italian deck, called Scopa (I think) that I have never been able to understand. Here’s how my family plays it:

Deal cards.
Pick up cards.
At least two but usually all of the players yell “SCOPA!” at the absolute top of their lungs and throw their hand down on the table with great force.
Argue about who won for the next thirty minutes.
Repeat.

Demon_G_Sides · February 5, 2009, 10:44am

That sounds like any card game after a few (read: Dozens) of drinks at family parties. I think that one passes cultural boundaries as well.

Scrax · February 5, 2009, 10:45am

If a gay couple or a lesbian couple adopt or otherwise have children. What do the children call their parents?

Dad 1 and 2? Mom A and B?

Bahimiron · February 5, 2009, 10:47am

My favorite card game is Euchre. It requires four people to play and in any average-sized gathering there is pretty much no chance of finding three other people who know it. This may or may not be why it is my favorite card game.

Edit: To be honest, my favorite card game is Cribbage. This is because Cribbage is f’n awesome.

I need to find a good Cribbage game for my iPhone.

Major_Icehole · February 5, 2009, 10:49am

What’s trump?

Only people from Illinois, wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio know how to play this game.

Malcolm_Tucker · February 5, 2009, 10:55am

And Ontario!

ElGuapo · February 5, 2009, 10:56am

Fucking Euchre, baby. My extended family always has three full tables of this going over the holidays.

I love how my Grandma and Mom try to cheat by transmitting non verbally what their strengths are to each other when paired up. It took us YEARS to figure out their system but once we did we used the awesome tactic of using the same system against them. Eventually later in the night they called us on it and we called it back on them. Ha!

JonRowe · February 5, 2009, 10:57am

54321

RyanMichael · February 5, 2009, 10:58am

Uh. Michigan, dude. Euchre is like, the official sport of Michigan. The rest of those states aren’t nearly the hotbed of euchre that MI is.

Demon_G_Sides · February 5, 2009, 10:59am

I know for a lesbian couple its just both mom.

Friend’s got two moms. Hell, I refer to both of them as mom.

Phil_Stein · February 5, 2009, 11:00am

It’s a little known fact that wisconsin and south dakota are the only two U.S. states that are conventionally not capitalized.

Conversely, OREGON should be spelled in all caps.

madkevin · February 5, 2009, 11:01am

Word. Euchre’s the ultimate drinking pastime, because it’s like a live-action sobriety test. If you are too drunk to play euchre, time to stop drinking.

Skipper · February 5, 2009, 11:02am

Random thought: Why can’t a gaming forum have a built in card game server contained within?

I would love to throw down playing some Euchre, Hearts, Spades, etc.

Jojo · February 5, 2009, 11:03am

For some friends of mine its mama (said regular baby style) and mah-maaah (said all posh-like).

wisefool · February 5, 2009, 11:03am

That’s how you spell it! When I went to Buffalo, every single person from Rochester seemed to know how to play Euchre. I was told the kids would just go to garages, drink and play it. It seemed to be a form of bridge, with a smaller deck and only natural bidding.

Less charitably, I called it a retarded version of bridge.

EE probably would prefer Euchre or Bridge, P&R should get hearts.

tiohn · February 5, 2009, 11:06am

“I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry as I need it.”
-J. Cage

Omniscia · February 5, 2009, 11:25am

So I hear. My sister (in MI) was just introduced to Euchre at a party the other night.

Scrabble’s more my game.

Rimbo · February 5, 2009, 11:31am

Why do hot dogs come in packages of 10 but hot dog buns come in packages of 8?

Why do you park on a driveway, but drive on a parkway?

Why are they called “apartments” when they’re close together?

Should a bankruptcy lawyer expect to be paid?

slikster · February 5, 2009, 11:33am

You don’t know jack!