Last month I ranted a bit about the false but oft-repeated claim that "gaming" is a euphemism for "gambling" invented by the industry to de-emphasize the sometimes ugly connotations of the former word. See http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2007/11/gaming-and-gambling.html (and don't miss the comments section with that post, because Short-Stacked Shamus contributed a useful additional bit of word history).
The only source I had for this at the time was, as I indicated then, an essay by a guy named Basil Nestor, about whom I knew (and still know) nothing. You can read about half of that essay online here: http://tinyurl.com/2qula4. (I assume that only the odd-numbered pages are available to prevent excessive copyright violation.)
Though it sounded to me as if Mr. Nestor were probably correct about his facts, it is my nature (or, perhaps, my nurture, or both) to maintain a degree of skepticism about factual claims such as this until I can verify things for myself with a source of unquestionable reliability. I couldn't do that easily at the time, because my copy of the Oxford English Dictionary--the best reference there is for word histories--got left in Minnesota when I moved to Nevada, and I kept forgetting to stop by the public library.
Well, I'm in Salt Lake City visiting my parents for Christmas, and they have a copy of the OED. So now I can remove my last bit of mental reservation about the facts claimed in my first post on this subject: "gaming" is unquestionably an older word in English than "gambling."
For those of you who are as pedantic as I am (hmm--that may not be possible...), here are the details:
The only source I had for this at the time was, as I indicated then, an essay by a guy named Basil Nestor, about whom I knew (and still know) nothing. You can read about half of that essay online here: http://tinyurl.com/2qula4. (I assume that only the odd-numbered pages are available to prevent excessive copyright violation.)
Though it sounded to me as if Mr. Nestor were probably correct about his facts, it is my nature (or, perhaps, my nurture, or both) to maintain a degree of skepticism about factual claims such as this until I can verify things for myself with a source of unquestionable reliability. I couldn't do that easily at the time, because my copy of the Oxford English Dictionary--the best reference there is for word histories--got left in Minnesota when I moved to Nevada, and I kept forgetting to stop by the public library.
Well, I'm in Salt Lake City visiting my parents for Christmas, and they have a copy of the OED. So now I can remove my last bit of mental reservation about the facts claimed in my first post on this subject: "gaming" is unquestionably an older word in English than "gambling."
For those of you who are as pedantic as I am (hmm--that may not be possible...), here are the details:
gaming The action or habit of playing at games of chance for stakes;
gambling.
The earliest published use of this word found by the OED's lexicographers is 1501. I won't bother citing it here, because it still has a lot of Middle English flavor to it, so the context is largely incomprehensible to modern eyes.
gamble (verb) To play games of chance for money, esp. for unduly
high stakes; to stake money (esp. to an extravagant amount) on some fortuitous
event. As the word is (at least in serious use) essentially a term of reproach,
it would not ordinarily be applied to the action of playing for stakes of
trifling amount, except by those who condemn playing for money altogether.
The earliest uses of the word (beginning in 1775--nearly 300 years after gaming came into the language) carried the connotation of cheating. Oddly, the verb form is documented only well after the noun forms (gambler and gambling), even though they appear as if they are derived from it.
gambler a. In early use: A fraudulent gamester, a sharper, 'rook.' b. One who habitually plays for money, esp. for extravagantly high stakes.
Earliest citation for gambler is 1747.
gambling The action of the verb Gamble.
As a noun, the earliest documented appearance of gambling is in 1784.
As a participle, the earliest known use of gambling is from 1726, of which the OED notes:
As a participle, the earliest known use of gambling is from 1726, of which the OED notes:
That gambles or plays for high stakes; orig. that plays unfairly, that cheats at play.
The next time you hear somebody object to gaming as being an industry invention to avoid any negative implications of gambling, just ask them what his or her evidence is for that claim. The only possible answer is "none," because it's just plain not true.
Here are just a few places I could find quickly on the web where the "euphemism" accusation is made:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6D6123BF933A05756C0A967958260 (Note--in the New York Times, even! Shame on their fact-checkers!)
They're all wrong.
I should be clear here as to several interrelated points of usage, as I see them:
1. I think it makes most sense to use the two words interchangably when speaking of the whole industry.
2. I think it makes more sense to use gambling than gaming in the micro-context of a poker hand, e.g., "He's gambling that a king or jack will come on the river." Gaming just doesn't sound right there, when the subject is a specific person making a specific bet on a specific range of outcomes, where randomness is involved.
3. I don't think it makes sense to assume or intend a morally negative shade of meaning automatically with either word.
4. However, I think it does make sense to use gambling in preference to gaming when some kind of opprobrium is intended or implied. For example, it would sound distinctly peculiar to say of a person who has lost his job, home, and family because of compulsive betting on horse races, "He has a gaming problem."
5. I don't think it is useful to continue the old connotation of cheating for gamble, gambler, and gambling. We have plenty of ways of describing cheating without loading that implication into another common word. Besides, I'd like to think that outright cheating is, these days, a fairly rare part of gambling in general.
Class dismissed.
Side note: The famous illustration above is taken from this page, where you can read about its history: http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/hogarth_william_arakesprogresscompletesetofeight6.htm
Attentive readers may notice some connection between this bit of art history and the pseudonym under which I blog here (and play online poker, too, in case you run across somebody named "Rakewell" at any of the major sites). That connection is entirely deliberate.
Addendum, October 17, 2011
The link in that last paragraph appears to be dead now. Try this instead:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment