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From Card Game Slang to Commonplace Slogans

If you play your cards right you’ll be able to hold all the aces and the situation won’t become another house of cards.

The average American will hear, approximately, ten catchphrases a week that originated from a card game expression. And card game catchphrases appear in every country around the world, in almost all cultures. Sociologists and Historians use these expressions as one of the measures of playing cards and their anthropological and sociological influences.

The abundance of these card game catchphrases certainly demonstrate the dissemination of pastime and show the impact playing cards have had upon societies around the world.

A house of cards refers to a plan or scheme that has a very weak foundation, like a house made from stacking playing card against each other. Holding the aces, sometimes referred to as holding all the trumps, denotes that the person has a winning hand or the upper hand in something. The phrase originates from games that a hand of aces would be the highest combination of cards a player can have. Playing your cards right alludes to a player’s use of strategy and skill to get the advantage with her hand.
The Trump Card
Like the trump card, playing cards catchphrases are a key resource in the research of playing cards origins. The trump card in games can be held in reserve until the player wants to utilize the card to win a hand. In society, the common use of catchphrases are now being resourced as a valuable tool in the history of playing cards.

There are dozens of other playing cards catchphrases that pop up in everyday conversation. Playing cards catchphrases have even spread into professional technical lingo.

Computer science, athletics, and legal professional jargons are filled with playing cards catchphrases.

Take a phrase like the wild card. In card games, the wild card refers to a card that the player can determine its value. In sports, a wild card player or team is an outside factor that has suddenly become included for some reason or another and may influence the outcome of a sporting event. Computer programmers refer to the wild card when discussing a symbol that symbolizes one or more undefined characters in a text. In a legal trial, a wild card witness is a surprise factor that could influences the case. Every time you use playing cards catchphrases, you will be carrying on slogans that have been used for centuries and originated from the invention of the playing cards and their cards games more than a thousand years ago. Don’t let these great sayings get lost in the shuffle.

So even if the deck is stacked against you or when you lay your cards on the table, when you call someone’s bluff or say you have a card up your sleeve, you’ll be carry on a tradition that will continue to be a part of our society. It’s in the cards.