This is probably easy but I swear I tried to look it up. My googlfu being what it is, failed me.
Anyway, what word represents the “1” place if deuce represents the 2?
I suspect it has something to do with a French corruption but that’s Deux. The dictionaries give definitions of dice and card pips and tie in tennis.
1-2-3 == ace-deuce-trey
There are also words for 4-5-6, but obsolete.
Another vote for ace.
A similar-ish thread from long ago.
I’ve seen the sequence cater, cinque, sice for continuing but not sure which situations those apply to. (Dice vs. cards.)
The real question: what’s the matching word for “zero”? “Love”, “naught”, … ?
Ace seems to be it, thanks. Also thanks for the link to the other thread. Fascinating stuff.
The other thread shows dictionary.com links for cater, cinque, sice. I clicked just now, but only the cinque definition survives. Perhaps one reason ‘cater == 4’ has disappeared is the near-collision with a usage shown in the other thread:
8: eighter from Decatur
‘Deuce’ is rather well-known, I think, but I wonder how many non-players know ‘trey.’
One reason ‘trey’ survives might be the (American?) usage where, e.g. former Congressman Harold Watson Gowdy III has the nickname ‘Trey’ (== III).
Some numbers at the craps table:
Eleven == Ee-oh-leven, front-line favorite
Any nine == center-field nine
Any five == no-field five.
When playing backgammon, Kyle Larsen called ‘4 4’ the ‘Cats’ — because the dice land on all fours.
Too soon to suggest “Uno, Dos, One, Two, Tres, Quatro”?
Some my father taught me from his playing craps in the Navy:
Two: Snake eyes
Four: Little Joe (from Kokomo)
Twelve: Boxcars
There is a form of backgammon called acey-deucy. The throw of a 1-2 is very special. You play the 1 and 2 (if you cannot play them both you lose the rest of the turn) then play a double of your choice and then roll again.
Really, I know it from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/c7d3aa6c-e6eb-432b-931f-2a88cf645960
But then again I had to watch it daily for longer than I car to remember - young daughter.
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[SPOILER]Wooly Bullyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
Watch it, now. Watch it, watch it![/SPOILER]
Just yesterday I heard for the first time…not in dice, cards, but…a Bingo game at an old-age home:
Chicken legs (for 11).
My wife said she’d heard it before, but only from her late mother when she came home from Bingo.
Does that number name exist in other situations?
“Trey” also has gotten a fair amount of usage in recent decades as slang for a three-point shot in basketball.
Also, Randy “Trey” Parker III, co-creator of South Park and Trey Griffey, grandson of baseball player Ken Griffey and son of Ken, Jr.
Bill Gates III (yes, that Bill Gates) had the nickname “Trey”. Trey seems to be more common that one might expect.
I’m kind of wondering what prompted the question, because the only place I’ve ever seen “deuce” widely used is for playing cards, where “ace” is much more widely known.
There’s another, more scatalogical meaning of the word “deuce,” having to do with elimination.
Well, yes, but that follows indirectly from the number, and playing cards are the only context where I’ve seen “deuce” mean “2”.
I was watching Family Guy and Stewie once again referred to pooping as ‘taking a deuce’. Unbelievably it was just then that it dawned on me that deuce=number two.
I’m not a card player so I didn’t make that connection.
I dimly recall ‘deuce’ being a slang term for $2 and/or $200. Googling just now I see Google has the same recollection, though its is also very dim!