| 词汇 | tinhorn gambler |
| 词源 | tinhorn gambler. In chuck-a-luck, an ancient dice game very popular during the Gold Rush, gamblers bet against the house that all three dice used would read the same when rolled, or that the sum of all three dice would equal a certain number, or that one of the three dice would turn up a specified number. It is a monotonous game and was looked down upon by players of faro, a more complicated and costly pastime. Faro operators coined the name tinhorn gamblers for chuck-a-luck players, giv- ing us the expression for any cheap gambler. Pulitzer Prize win- ner George Williston explained how in his book Here They Found Gold (1931): “Chuck-a-luck operators shake their dice in a ‘small churn-like affair of metal’—hence the expression ‘tinhorn gambler,’ for the game is rather looked down upon as one for ‘chubbers’ [fools] and chuck-a-luck gamblers are never admitted within the aristocratic circles of faro dealers.” |
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