Quote:
Originally Posted by LektorAJ
Re: names of hands:
Quads is also called "poker" in Italy, Czech Rep and Slovakia to my knowledge. In a lot of countries (including CZ & SK) the word for "flush" translates as "colour" and the word for Queen is something like "lady" or "dame" rather than literally queen.
The locals in Slovakia call KK koniky which means "little horses" and is presumably derrived from the German word for King, "konig" and AK is often called Ace-Horse ("eso-kon").
They also occasionally use names of suits from traditional German decks (hearts, leaves, bells and acorns) but they don't agree among themselves about what the correspondence is supposed to be to the suits in western decks.
In my (English) family the more bizarre terms based on several steps of logic are used for brag hands. Probably English poker players use some brag-influenced terms but I've never actually played at home before.
I love this discussion in general because I'm fascinated by regional variations in terms people use.
When I first learned what poker was decades ago, my dad called a full house a full boat. I still hear both but it's heavily weighted toward "house" now. I can't tell if it's a regional difference, or an age difference.
I used to dabble in Mexican Poker (5-card stud with 8s-Ts removed and a bug) at the Bicycle Club. "English only" was not enforced at the table (I mean even less so than normal in LA-area card rooms). I learned many terms for hands and ranks.
"Caballeros" or "cowboys" for KK is not so different. I've heard that used in English. They used "jotas" for JJ. Now that one seems innocuous at first, because the word for "j" in Spanish is "jota." But "jota" is also a term for a gay male in Mexican Spanish slang, and not a nice one at that. My favorite was "escalera" or "stairs" for a straight. I just liked the sound of it and the visual image of each card sitting on a step in increasing rank.