May 2007 - 52

INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS

It's Just MayHem

Marilyn Hemenway
mayhembridge@cox.net

Bridge slang
The game of bridge is not unlike
other games or hobbies wherein participants and/or spectators, over time,
develop their own terminology or
slang. Outsiders who suddenly find
themselves around a group of bridge
addicts will have a real awakening.
After playing duplicate bridge for
40 years, I still occasionally hear an
expression I haven't heard before.
There are lots of animals and birds
that found their way into bridge
slang for some reason. To "duck" is
to refuse to take a trick for whatever
reason, but a "quack" is a hand with
lots of QUeens and jACKs, and therefore probably not as good as the point
count may indicate. On the other
hand an "ugly duckling" is a hand
with 5-3-3-2 distribution, while a
"swan" is a hand with 7-4-1-1 distribution.
A "moose" is a hand with lots of
high cards in all the suits, but a "dog"
is just the opposite- a bad hand
with few values. "Walking the dog,"
however, has nothing to do with a dog
of a hand. Instead it refers to bidding
timidly with a good hand in the hopes
of eventually being doubled.
The "striped-tail ape double" refers
to the case when you double the opponents in a contract below slam in
the hopes of getting a better score
52

than the slam would have been. You
better hope that they don't redouble,
though.
A "beaver" is a redouble and just
like in the animal world there are
various kinds of beavers in the bridge
world. A "hog" is someone who bids
a lot trying to become the declarer,
but a "pig's eye" is the A. A "turkey" and a "fish" are both bad bridge
players, but to "fish" means to play
in some manner trying to get certain
cards out.
The Canadians have some rather
unique slang. K-Q doubleton is
referred to as "K-Q frozen" and
similarly A-K is "A-K frozen."
(Americans would say "A-K tight.")
An auction is over when it goes "all
change," making me think of trying
to find a new partner for an upcoming square dance. From Western
Canada comes this: a hand with three
kings is a "nativity scene" while a
hand with an honor in every suit has a
"cow in every pasture." My favorite
is "a gang splinter" for a hand with
two singletons.
The Chinese have several descriptive expressions, including "Chinese
finesse," which is the lead of an unsupported honor in the hope that the
next player will not cover. Although
the origin of this ploy is not Chinese
and actually is unknown, the concept
is familiar to experts around the
bridge world.
Specific cards have slang names of
their own. The 9 is the "curse of
Scotland" while the 7 is the "beer
card" (this has to do with who buys
the beer if the last trick is won by it).
Similarly, the 2 is the "curse of
Mexico," and the 4 is the "devil's
bed posts." All the face cards can be
called "Rembrandts."
There are a few slang terms that

sound like they might have something
to do with sex, such as "elopement,"
"fast arrival," "frigid" and "went
to bed with" (an ace). Elopement
is the process of scoring a trick or
tricks with low trumps that ordinarily
wouldn't have the rank to take a trick.
Fast arrival is a tactic whereby getting to game quickly denies any extra
values. Frigid means the same as
"icy" and refers to a deal that can't go
set with any reasonable line of play.
Went to bed (with an ace) means you
ducked that ace once too often, and it
went bye-bye.
While researching this article, I
found a couple of slang terms that
I had never heard before. "Amber"
refers to both sides being vulnerable
and "apricot" is a term that has been
given to a weak two-suited red hand
(diamonds and hearts).
Finally there are the old standbys.
"Cheese" refers to a hand with a
lot of holes in it. Instead of the
two-baggers or three-baggers that
they have in baseball, bridge has its
"six-baggers" or "seven-baggers"
denoting the length of the suit. And
of course, there's one that everyone
who has played duplicate bridge
more than once uses: You have been
"fixed" when an opponent makes a
bid or play that isn't very good on the
surface, but works out miraculously
well for them, thus giving you a very
bad score.
The last two you are unlikely to
need to use: Going for a "telephone
number" refers to suffering a big
penalty like minus 1100 or 1400,
but you won't need that expression
because you have a partner who does
"ambulance service" and rescues you
from impending disasters!
r

Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2007
