Is it "Card Sharp" or "Card Shark?"

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by Jaguar
To all who voted "Card Shark:" I wish you were dead.

I repent! I have been enlightened by this thread, for I had not even heard of the true from of the word until now. I promise to keep this discussion in my mind and only use "card sharp" from now on.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Pekka
They wipe me all the time

Are you sure they wipe you?

[Pekka]

yes, wipe me out. Wipe out the floor with me.

Näppärä ulkkis. Näitä riittää. Nuff said.

[Boris Godunov]

"wipe me out" is correct.

"Wipe the floor with me" would be correct.

"wipe me" is just kinky.

[Pekka]

yes I know. Foreigners are allowed to say them wrong every now and then.

but anyway... card sharp still doesn't make any sense to me. So it's a hustler then? Why sharp? Is it a reference to possibly marking up the cards?

[Boris Godunov]

Sharp = clever, wily.

"He has a sharp wit."

So a card sharp is someone who is "sharp" when it comes to cards. Clever, wily. So he can easily beat less-capable players with tricks.

[Pekka]

ok.

[Boris Godunov]

Thus Pope Pekka I has spoken now and forever amen.

[Pekka]

I don't talk biblical, thus I don't understand you anymore. But thanks, I got the card sharp thing now.

[Kidlicious]

I didn't know the Pope didn't have to wipe himself. Oh well, I wasn't even nominated.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Well, it's possible "sharp" got bastardised first and only then did we steal it as "shark".

Exactamundo! Sharp was a general purpose term for people who were skilled or expert at something. Hence the term sharpshooter started as sharp shooter, or expert shooter. I imagine that people misheard the term Card Sharp as Card Shark, and as this term in many ways is more evocative it thrived.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by BustaMike
To all the people who say it's card sharp. Does that mean that it's pool sharp too? I don't care what wiki says. It's shark.

Both are acceptable today, though there is a slight difference in meaning.

[molly bloom]

It's card sharp.


A card shark would get soggy.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by molly bloom
It's card sharp.


A card shark would get soggy.

[molly bloom]

Actually this phrase intrigued me slightly.

' SHARP ' actually has other meanings, such as keen, barely honest or quick perception.

A ' SHARP/ener ' or ' SHARP/er ' is another term for a cheat.

' CARDSHARP/er ' (all one word), was a term used for a person who cheated at cards- similarly in British English, where ' SHARP ' practice is immoral/unethical behaviour.


Card shark on the other hand, is just plain daft.