# Names for playing card numbers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873 "2009-02-21T18:16:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/1 "2009-02-21T18:16:12Z")
O. K. I know that: One is Ace Two is Deuce Three is Trey Does anybody know the names of the rest of the numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/2 "2009-02-21T19:13:11Z")
What makes you think the other cards even \*have \*names? As far as I’m aware, they haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/3 "2009-02-21T19:30:35Z")
I have heard of people calling 5s “nickels” if they have more than one. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/4 "2009-02-21T19:32:20Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > What makes you think the other cards even \*have \*names? As far as I’m aware, they haven’t. They do, even though you were not aware of it. Imagine that. > **[Curse of Scotland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_scotland)** > > The Curse of Scotland is a nickname used for the nine of diamonds playing card. The expression has been used at least since the early 18th century, and many putative explanations have been given for the origin of this nickname for the card. > A tale of a general who, before a battle, wrote orders on a nine of diamonds card has appeared in folklore several times. The general has been identified with both James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth before the Battle of Bothwell Bridge (1679) and Prince Wil... ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/5 "2009-02-21T19:39:46Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > What makes you think the other cards even \*have \*names? While we’re at it, I absolutely detest this question, in all its forms. It’s perfectly obvious what makes the OP think that, which is that the first three do, in fact, have well-known names. To pretend otherwise is to engage in pretentious intellectual snobbery. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/6 "2009-02-21T19:48:16Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > O. K. I know that: > One is Ace > Two is Deuce > Three is Trey > > Does anybody know the names of the rest of the numbers? There are multiple names for some of them, including some specific to poker, which are: 4 = sailboat 6 = kick 7= walking stick, mullet 8 = snowman, fat lady, racetrack 9 = Popeye 10 = dime J = fishhook, hook Q = lady K = cowboy, kangaroo A = rocket Most of these are only used in the plural- ie., if you’re holding a pair in the hole in Texas Hold’em. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/7 "2009-02-21T20:12:04Z")
There are instances – in specific games perhaps – where some of the number cards get fancy names. The first one I thought of is where 2’s and 3’s are either wild cards or are shown in pairs, in which case they’re “nits and boogers.” One of our favorite wild card groupings was “fours, whores and one-eyed face cards” where the whores ought to be obvious. That’s almost half the deck! If you were to expand the scope of the OP to include slang terms for the spots on dice, you could get even more hits. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/8 "2009-02-21T20:17:09Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > What makes you think the other cards even \*have \*names? As far as I’m aware, they haven’t. [Moderator Note] If you don’t know the answer to a question, it is much better to allow other people who do know the answer to respond to it, rather than bringing your own ignorance to everyone else’s attention. This is particularly true as a first response to an OP. From the [GQ Rules.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=466202) > [@](#): > > If you don’t have much information, give an expert a chance to answer by waiting until a question is about to fall off the first page before making a guess. > [@Q.E.D](#): > > While we’re at it, I absolutely detest this question, in all its forms. It’s perfectly obvious what makes the OP think that, which is that the first three do, in fact, have well-known names. To pretend otherwise is to engage in pretentious intellectual snobbery. [Moderator Note] While we’re at it, if you have a problem with a post, it is better to report it than to snark about it yourself. From the [Beginner’s Guide to Glossary of Terms on Straight Dope Message Boards](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=320298) > [@](#): > > Junior Modding – When someone who is not a moderator tries to dictate how another poster should act. Thus, usurping the role of moderator when not entitled to do so. (At one end of the practice, this is just seen as annoying and arrogant on the part of person playing “junior mod”; at the other end of the practice, this is a rules violation and warnable offense.) But I’m sure you know this already. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/9 "2009-02-21T20:24:25Z")
Some names that I’ve heard that don’t appear in the link or in posts here: Jacks: cowboys, knights Spades: swords Diamonds: coins Aces: orphans ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/10 "2009-02-21T20:27:37Z")
Aces are also sometimes called Bullets. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/11 "2009-02-21T20:51:52Z")
Jacks are also called knaves. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/12 "2009-02-21T20:54:58Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Jacks are also called knaves. More to the point, Jacks were _originally_ called Knaves. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/13 "2009-02-21T21:08:16Z")
The jack of clubs was known as Pam in the popular 17th/18th century card game Loo, or Lanterloo, where it was the highest trump card. Interestingly enough the word Pam comes from Pamphilus, a character from a 12th century Latin amatory poem: the same character is also the origin of the word pamphlet (the poem proved so popular with students and others that eventually any short document or work became known as a pamphlet.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/14 "2009-02-21T21:29:03Z")
We used to call the kings with swords in their heads Suicide Kings. Although as I look, that’s only the king of hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/15 "2009-02-21T22:54:03Z")
A pair of Queens is sometimes called Siegfried and Roy. And vice versa, I guess… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/16 "2009-02-21T23:58:52Z")
> [@MC\_E](#): > > [Curse of Scotland - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_scotland) If I remember correctly, the 9​♦ is the card James Bond draws to defeat Le Chiffre in the pivotal hand of baccarat in the novel _Casino Royale_. I seem to recall also that upon receiving this card, Bond associates it with the phrase ‘a whisper of love, a whisper of hate’, which is the title of chapter 13. Does anyone have a copy of the book handy to verify this recollection and to explain any connection? ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/17 "2009-02-22T00:18:35Z")
And why are deuces called ducks? Alliteration? The two is called a duck in Bingo, too. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/18 "2009-02-22T01:05:38Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > We used to call the kings with swords in their heads Suicide Kings. Although as I look, that’s only the king of hearts. We also grouped the king of diamonds in as “suicide kings”, as that king has an axe pointed towards his head. I’m looking online, and while the king of hearts is definitely a suicide king, whether the king of diamonds is one seems to vary from group to group. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/19 "2009-02-22T01:42:49Z")
Weirdly, the King of Hearts also seems to be the only one without a moustache. Coincidence… or is it? ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873/20 "2009-02-22T05:23:16Z")
Whenever I play cards pretty much all of them get called “…that damned card!” at some point or another. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-playing-card-numbers/486873.md?page=2)