Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: crack-loo (or crack-a-loo)


This nifty little bit of slang, variously listed as crack-loo or crack-a-loo, refers to a gambling game.

I first stumbled across it in Dictionary of the American West by Win Blevins, and then found more discussion in a 1894 issue of American Journal of Philology (Volume 15, to be exact).

Any guesses as to what this game involves?
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If you are wondering, wonder no more!
Here's what Blevins' dictionary has for the rules of the game:
Players pitched coins against the ceiling, and the coin that came to rest nearest a crack in the floor won.
 The American Journal also describes how it is played and then muses a bit on the possible derivation of the term:
.... [T]he game is played by two or more persons, and consists in shooting a small coin to the ceiling and letting it fall near a crack in the floor. The owner of whichever coin falls nearest the designated crack "takes the pile." ... It has been suggested that the name may be shortened from "Crack or Lose"; or it may be derived from compounding the word Loo, the game at cards, with the word Crack, which plays the important part in the game.

Sounds like a game of pitching pennies, with a twist...
Mill boys pitching pennies on the Main St. in the afternoon. One said he sweeps. One said "I was workin' but got canned 'cause I was not fast enough." The other was "jest hangin' around."  By Hine, Lewis Wickes; National Child Labor Committee Collection [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

2 comments:

Liz said...

The origin of lucky pennies?

Ann Parker said...

Hi Liz!
Hmmmm... I spent a few minutes looking around for information on lucky pennies. Nothing conclusive, but this little discussion pretty much sums up what I found elsewhere: http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/penny-superstition/