![]() ![]() One well-established route for slang is bubbling up from the criminal element, and many other slang terms had circulated for several decades in a particular underworld class before becoming known to the general public. While there is no direct evidence to support this story, all the elements ring true. The circus used it for years before it was ever heard on Broadway. I don’t need to say that “twenty-three,” as slang, comes from this game. The player never knows what he has thrown. If the sucker kicks, a booster reaches over next time the dice are counted, says “my play,” and musses them up. The assistant dealer grabs up the dice, adds them hurriedly, announces the number that he wants to announce, and sweeps them back into the box. The table is crowded with boosters, all jostling and reaching for the box, eager to play. You may ask how the dealer makes the sucker throw just what he wants. He is kept throwing “conditionals” until his whole pile is down and then made to throw twenty-three-the space which he failed to notice, and which is marked “lose.” He has only to double his bet, and on the next throw he will get four times the indicated prize, or if he throws a blank number, the equivalent of his money. He has thrown better than a winning number. For when he throws “conditional,” the dealer tells him that he is in great luck. ![]() These spaces marked “conditional” are used in a great many gambling games, such as spindle they're the most useful thing in the world for leading the sucker on. Certain spaces are marked for prizes, five or six are marked “conditional,” and one, number twenty-three, is marked “lose.” The dealer keeps his stack of coins over the twenty-three space, so that it isn't noticed until the time to show it. The player throws eight dice, and the dealer compares the sum of the spots he has thrown with the numbers on the cloth. The operator has before him a sheet of green felt, marked off into figured squares-eight to forty-eight. I don’t have to explain the shell game, I guess. We had two shell games, a “cloth” and a “roll-out” team. The most likely, but by no means certain, origin is in a particular con game, as explained in Will Irwin’s 1909 Confessions of a Con Man: Skidoo is probably a variation on skedaddle, but the twenty-three element is more uncertain. The individual elements, twenty-three and skidoo, are older still. Twenty-three skidoo makes its appearance in the opening years of the twentieth century, first seeing print in 1906, but being somewhat older in speech. The phrase has engendered a number of mythical explanations, but here is what we actually know. The phrase is actually a combination of two other slang terms, both of them meaning the same as the combined phrase. ![]() Twenty-three skidoo, which appears in the opening years of the twentieth century, can be a noun, exclamation, or verb referring to leaving, departure, or making an exit, particularly a rapid one. Like most slang terms, the origin of twenty-three skidoo is not known for certain, but we do have some clues that give us a probable answer. (Updated 14 July 2022 with a reference to the 1899 play of Tale of Two Cities) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |