As soon as Rob said he'd never heard of it, I thought, "If Jess had pronounced it properly he'd know it." As someone who's learnt a second language I'm always intrigued by how you can make a work unrecognisable through minor mispronunciation, because it's something you frustratingly encounter a lot. Ha ha...
Pawn comes from Peon, which was a foot soldier. Peon goes through Spanish (pedon-walker or foot soldier), to Latin (ped-foot). Whether that directly or indirectly relates to your found word for defense, I don't know, but the front line of foot soldiers was often call the defensive line.
The pawn can also be exchanged for a captured piece (promoted) if it reaches the opposite side of the board; not sure if that plays into the use with pawn shops or not
Rob, you must see Clue, it is an underrated classic comedy from the 80's. Tremendous cast and keeping different specifics from the game make it a wonderful watch.
@jamesgwoodwork it was not popular when it debuted, it was a cult classic after the fact. I consider it underrated as a lot of people I've known have never seen it.
When the game "Trouble" (Rob's "Frustration") was released in the US in the '60's, by the Milton Bradley company, they marketed that little domed dice-popper in the middle as a highlight of playing the game, and advertised it on TV as "Pop-o-matic Trouble". Nice job with the sound, Rob, I think you nailed it! ;)
The discussion about the knight being a horse in chess made me think of the scene in the British sitcom "Bottom" where they are attempting to play the game. "How does the racehorse move again?" "It's not a racehorse, it's a knight." "Where's the knight then?" "Well, he must've fallen off." "Not much of a knight then, is he?!"
Not every country calls it a night. I believe the Russians call it a horse. However, like today, various pieces can have characteristics. For instance, there is a Star Trek themed chess set using characters and set pieces from the 1960s TV show. It is possible that some set pieces, since they were all hand made at the time, had knights as pieces.
@@orlock20 In German, one can call the chess knight "Pferd" ( = horse), too, in addition to "Springer". "Pferd" is the "layman's term", while in chess clubs and such you'll probably rather hear "Springer"
My parents played Pinocle a lot back in the 1960s and I learned the game from them. It requires a special deck of 48 cards including only 9 through Ace values. I grew up in Missouri and I only ever heard this game pronounced "PEE'-KNUCKLE". Not sure if that is the generally accepted pronunciation in the U.S., but I think it may be. Your show is great, by the way. You guys are bad ass wordsmiths. And yes, you got GAME!
As a Scot, the immediate connection I found with "wist" for silence was the Scots language word "wheesht" to mean something like "hush" - often rendered "haud yer wheesht". Incidentally, etymonline also notes that the word "hush" was "huisht" in middle english. The origin of "wistful" seems to be distinct.
1. A dire song from my youth includes the lyrics: "The worms go in, the worms go out, The worms play 'pea-knuckle' [pinochle] on your snout." 2. When "Clue" the movie was first released in the States, it depended on which cinema you saw it in as to which ending you got. Three different endings were filmed. For later, and overseas, releases, all three were bundled together at the end of the film. - *excellent* film! 😊 3. Tag/Tick-a-nick - in Australia (and possibly NZ), it's always been Tiggy.
no. it’s the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout, they crawl on friends and your friend’s friends, too, if you don’t watch out; they’ll crawl into you! 🐛 😅
The "poly" bit in monopoly comes from the greek poleo, meaning to sell. A monopolist is the only one that sells a product. I am not etymologist, by the way, but I teach economics. Great channel by the way
@@TuralcarOf all the new words I learned in law school, monopsony was my favorite, from antitrust class. Also, fun fact, in the US we call competition law "antitrust" because the first tool to stifle competition was a "trust," which is when the people making decisions about money or property are doing it for someone else's benefit. So they hold it "in trust" because it isn't for their own benefit, but they are trusted to do right by someone else. The trusts in this case were groups formed by the various competitors to create policy that they would then all follow to their mutual benefit rather than competing. They were not really behaving as trusts, but they used the same legal form as trusts.
Several American's have told me this movie 'Clue' is brilliant. So I watched it, and I guess I just didn't get what was great about it. It was 'OK' - it made me smile at moments - but it never made me laugh out loud (and I adore Tim Curry). Perhaps Rob will have a markedly better experience! [Yes - I have seen the different endings]
@@schubertuk It's like a classic type of absurd farce that was very popular on stage in decades past. It feels like an older movie in its execution, with its snappy and clever dialogue, and where sly innuendo-ish humor is allowed, without the film being outright "dirty" with sex or being blatant with violence. Most of the film would be at home in the 1940s, with a few exceptions. Part of the reason why I love it.
@@peteg475 I appreciate that - and indeed your attempt to help. I have watched it several times (at the behest of other fans): it just doesn't make me laugh. I appreciate my position is in the minority. And I am a big Tim Curry fan - I like him in Clue - just not the whole movie. Murder by Death made a similar dull thud with me too.
16:10 In Spanish the chess piece is called “peón” with the apparent connotation of the English “peon.” I think it aligns with the medieval war model with knights and bishops, etc.
24:42 the "poly" in "monopoly" is not actually "poly" as in many at all, but from "polein" meaning to sell. A monopolist, who has a monopoly, is a singular seller; opposite a monopsonist, a singular buyer, who has a monopsony, from "opsonia" meaning to buy.
On the other hand, the (not game related) Korg Mono/Poly synthesizer, though likely intended as a play on the word “monopoly,” really does mean “mono” and “poly” since it can act as a 4-voice polyphonic synth (4 notes playing at a time) or can play only one note at a time (monophonic) with more complex sound (essentially all voices working together). Totally unrelated, but interesting nonetheless.
I once played piezoelectricity in Scrabble. I even had the z on a triple word score tile! Everyone challenged me and we found it in the dictionary. It was a high point in my life!
It's damn criminal that this channel has only 36.3k subscribers. This means there are 36.3k less than the entire world's population missing out on this delightful channel.
I know my Scottish great granny used to use the word wisht (not sure if that's the spelling) for "to be quiet". Interesting the card game whist is related
TBF is a new channel and primarily a podcast. Saying that it is along with Storied the best Ethnology channel on UA-cam and will definitely grow a lot more.
Pinochle was my dad’s favorite game. Here in Kansas, we pronounce it pea-knuckle. It is played with a double deck of cards. I never learned the game being a “Pitch” burnout from my childhood because that game required four players and my mom, dad, and only sibling loved the game.
A double deck but no cards below 9. And different because a 10 outranks anything but an ace. Definitely pronounced pea-knuckle. It does not require four players but when played with four becomes a team game. Can be played with two or three, but when played with three, a hand is 15 cards instead of 12.
To be game, as in, "I'm game," means either to be ready or to be willing, or both. Thus I'm game for continuing to watch this video once I've finished typing.
I thoroughly enjoy the witty banter that the two of you have and I like the chemistry between the two of you. I literally wait for each episode with bated breath. Also, I think Jess is kind of cute. 😊
One game not mentioned here is "jacks" aka. "knucklebones" - a game of agility involving a rubber ball and little clay cubes (which would originally have been bones of appropriate size) or blunt caltrops (which are the "jacks"). Military caltrops (with sharp spikes, to pierce bootsoles or tyres) are sometimes known as jackrocks. Strictly speaking a jack is a boy (or a "youth"), especially a servant, not an adult man or an "everyman". The word "knave" has the same youthful (and rascally) connotations - and modern Danish has "knægt", meaning "lad". Tools called "jack" replace boys who once had those jobs (when child labour was not forbidden). The boy who pulled off your boot was a "boot-jack", which is what we call the wooden gadget that helps do the same job. The boy who rang the bell on the hour was "jack o' the clock" (later occasionally implemented as a mechanical figure with that very name) and the boy who held the cart while you changed the wheel was just "jack". Boys (being small, agile and recklessly unaware of their own mortality) were typically sent up towers to fix weathervanes and lightning conductors and whatnot, a profession now known as "steeplejack", "lumberjack" is similar, and presumably the word "jockey" (invariably riders of small-stature) shares the same origin. Various gadgets and tools in Danish end with the suffix _-knægt_ for example "hyldeknægt" - a shelf bracket, or "støvleknægt" which is a boot jack. A "jack" is also a nautical term, referring to a signal flag (presumably hoisted by young lads on board ship) with aspect ratio of 2:1. A "union jack" is the British national emblem flown at sea with the signal flag aspect ratio. The union flag flown on land has the aspect ratio 5:3. It is strictly incorrect to refer to this latter emblem as a "union jack".
Thank you! By the way, I found an antique metal jack (from the children's game) in the garden of our Victorian house -- only slightly larger and heavier than modern jacks, instantly recognizable.
There's a Dutch game called Schwarte Piet - Black Peter; probably has some relationship with the Moorish pirate/slave trader who accompanies St Nicholas. The Black Peter in this game is a forfeit, and is a card you don't want, and the object is to pass it off on an opponent. This gives rise to the expresssion, "Pass the Black Pete - Pass the Buck".
Also a sailor as a man Jack. “Every Man Jack”. Also Jack o’ Lantern. Not sure about Jack Hammer or modern usages as Jacked Up. Jack off (also jag off). Jack of all Trades, car Jack, Tire Jack, Hijack too. :)
Chess: the Bishops were originally Elephants in the Persian version of the game. Elephants were used in battle and were notorious for not charging straight. The elephant pieces were often shaped like like tusks. The British thought the tusks looks like bishops’ hats. The French thought the tusks looked like a Jester’s hat so the French name is Le Fou (the fool). Maybe because they moved at an angle.
I once bought a chess set in Istanbul. White is medieval Christian and black is a Muslim (Ottoman) army. The bishops are indeed elephants. Now I can tell my son why we call the elephants "bishops". Cheers!
Regarding bridge, “one three” only seems relevant as far as it could be interpreted as “thirteen”. Each player starts with a hand of 13 cards, in the deck there are 13 cards of each suit, and in the play of one deal there are 13 rounds of play called “tricks”. The skill is in watching and remembering which cards have been played to help you determine which card you should play next, which is often referred to as “counting to 13”.
I don't play bridge but I'm passingly familiar with trick taking games. I thought the Russian "Herald" idea might make better sense than "1-3" because you declare (herald?) a suit and number of tricks during the bidding mechanic before actually laying any cards on the table..?
@@brian_jacksonI think you are more likely to be right, because a lot of card games are played with decks which do not have 52 cards in - especially when played in countries with other languages. Many play with decks of 36, 32, 40, or even 78 cards in a deck. So Bridge presumably wouldn’t have 13 cards per player in those countries.
One of my favorite souvenirs from studying abroad in Scotland is a crossword puzzle book that I brought with me to Scotland. I left it in the common room and my flatmates started filling it in with the stock answers for a Scottish person. They were mostly wrong but still fit into the spaces, things like GPs instead of MDs for doctors. It still makes me smile to think about it!
The interesting thing about Clue (the movie) is it had multiple endings and the ending you got to see depended on which theater you saw the movie at. This was long before DVDs existed.
@@rnptenafly same! or something light tiddlywinks! at least i thought it would involve cups or drinking in some way! Like a draught of whiskey or something!
Whist, the word, is interesting for me. In the vernacular where I grew up in Fife, "wheesht!" or "haud yer wheesht!" (hold your peace!) was a pretty common way to tell someone to be quiet, and I see similarities with the Swedish "tyst" as in "håll tyst!" "keep quiet!"
The word “whisht” meaning “be quiet” is from the Irish word “éist” meaning “listen”. The Swedish word “tyst” also exists in Irish as “tost” with a similar meaning of being silent or shut up.
“Pawn” comes from the Old French word “paon”, which derives from the Medieval Latin term for "foot soldier" and is cognate with “peon”. Yes, the Rook piece in chess is a borrowing from the Persian “rukh”, meaning “war chariot”. As the game made its way to Europe from Persia and India, the pieces were reinterpreted based on appearance. In the older versions of the game, those pieces depicted war chariots, which in real life were reinforced with wood and metal bulwarks, and often decorated to resemble stone walls. Abstracted to a square structure in the game pieces, they appeared to European eyes to look like a siege tower, a wheeled scaffold tower with protective walls that would allow attacking soldiers to climb a castle wall in greater safety from arrows and such when pushed up against a castle wall. Like a reinforced chariot, it was something of a juggernaut, and would be pushed or drawn in a straight line towards the target. Over time, its form changed slightly to depict not an attacking tower, but a defensive one of a castle or keep. I wonder if this depiction was reinforced by the action of “castling”, where the King and a Rook exchange places in one move to whisk the king to safety behind the protection of the Rook, and usually a few pawns. Castling in its current form wasn’t added until the 15th - 16th centuries. The Queen was originally the Vizier, a Prime Minister or advisor to the King, and is still known as such in many countries, such as Iran and Russia (Ferz) and in Arabic-speaking or influenced countries (Vazir/Wazir). In many European countries, it came to be known as Queen or similar, perhaps due to the robed appearance of the Vizier in abstract pieces, perhaps under the influence of courtly romance in the troubadour tradition, perhaps in a nod to the fact that the game was something men and women at court could play against each other. In Spain, it is called La Dama, likely a reference the Virgin Mary. The Queen’s ability to move any number of squares like a Bishop or Rook may have arisen as a bit of politics in the Spanish court as a nod to the power and influence of Queen Isabella I, and may have spread through Europe by either the advent of the printing press, the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, who carried the new rule with them to other countries, or both. The Bishop is more complicated. Its was originally a war elephant (Alfil in Persian), and corruptions of that are retained in many European countries like Italy and Spain that were among the first to get the game from the East. In English it was originally called the Aufin or Alphin, but also the Archer (which I think is a title more descriptive of its movement and role in the game, often sniping from afar). Some Slavic languages also call it the Archer. In other Germanic languages it is called the messenger or runner, as in a king’s or military messenger in battle. It has also ben called and depicted as a camel or crocodile. But, the modern bishop shape is an abstraction of a person wearing a bishop’s mitre (hat). In French it is called the Fou (fool, jester), because they thought the depiction of a bishop’s mitre resembled a jester’s cap. The King is always the King.
I like to think that, when Cluedo was imported to the US, they had to chop off and store all the 'do's, so much that excess inventory became a problem. Then, when Where's Wally was imported, they dug out all those excess 'do's to rename it to Where's Waldo.
In Dutch chess is called Schaak/Schaken, and check/checkmate are Schaak/Schaakmat. A quick google tells me it's similar in German. Interesting how the "Shah mat" got so well preserved. Pawn is pion, rook is toren (tower), knight is paard (horse), and the bishop is called the loper (walker). The queen is also called the dame (lady), though koningin (queen) is used as well. The king is just the koning (king). Also checkers is called Dammen. I guess it's like building a dam? idk
In most languages, Checkers is called Dame(s), as these are the more powerful pieces you get when one of yours reaches the opposite row of the board. But I can't tell why the English crown Kings in this case while the continent turns Men into Ladies.
Castling is a verb for a special movement in chess. There were different attempts of what that was, but in modern chess it's basically hiding the king in the corner while moving the rook toward the center (the king hides in his castle). Western chess has had several rule changes through the centuries and there are Eastern varieties as well. The rook is half a piece of an original chessboard piece from India. The original piece was the rook we know sitting on top of an elephant. Pawn is a word for peasant as in the Spanish word peon. In version 1.0 of Western chess, the king was "killed" so it was possible for a king to kill another king. This carries over in modern chess in which the losing player tips the king over to symbolize defeat.
Yeah as I’ve read you two are the new stars. Been watching, Rob for a couple of years, “Jess and Rob’ for the better part of more than a year. Keep it going please.😜
Fitting with the theory of Rob, in French 🇨🇵, a pawn is called a "pion", which comes from the Latin pedo, pedonis , a foot soldier who can be moved around on the order of the king during battles.
38:29 Quoits is not a bean bag toss in Aus - its a game with a small pole to which you cast rings to see if you can get one on the pole. More poled, more points
One for Rob, the movie Clue was directed by Jonathan Lynn who was most famous in the UK for co-writing Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister which (for those that don’t know) was famed for it’s wordplay and verbiage.
One thing I learned from Tom Scott's video on "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" is that the name of the game of 'tag' has an enormous variety of regional variations in the UK, but is just universally called 'tag' in the US. So "what was the game called in your school?" Is a weird question to an American.
Not only this, but a wide variety of regional words to excuse oneself from tag, such as fainights, pax, and cruces! In the United States this is almost always time-out. It's funny how which words have the most regional variations is not a constant internationally, like how Americans don't have nearly so many terms for bread rolls as the Brits. There are of course regional names for pop, but over much larger dialect areas, and the UK has some of those, too (fizzy drink, fizzy juice, pop, mineral). I'll have to check out that Tom Scott vid
I called it touch growing up in the 90s and early 2000s in Bristol. We also played a game called stuck in the mud, when you were caught you'd stand in place with your legs apart and one of the other people being chased could crawl between your legs to free you
Presumably related to tag was a game I enjoyed when I lived in Singapore which we called Kingie (or Kingy) - which I later learned was known as Hot Rice when I returned to the UK). The person who was 'it' had a tennis ball, which they threw at anyone else who was playing, aiming to hit them in the torso. If they succeeded, they joined the original person in throwing the ball at the other players. The other players could not pick the ball up or throw it, but they could hit it with their fists to send if off in another direction. Great fun.
I was lured into a pinochle game once with my parents and some people they knew at an picnic and I could not figure it out and I've never played it since.
Same. Though our family pronounced it "pea-knuckle". A good family game: easy enough for 10-year-olds to play, but admitting of strategies that gave adults an edge, and a social element that led to a lot of amusing table talk.
I have to agree with the must watch clue crowd . Rob you must watch the movie it is one you will never forget. Love you guys . Nerds will rule the world and you two will be King and Queen.🤟
I've heard pawns also called Squires. I'm curious if the "pledge" aspect of pawn comes into play or if it's like a "pledged footman" sort of idea. On the chariot idea XiangQi, a Chinese game related to chess, still has chariots and wagons.
Chess was originally called Chaturanga, literally "four arms" (chatur having the same I-E root as quadr-, Russian четыре "chetirye", etc); the non-royal pieces represented four ways soldiers got around in an army of the day: on foot (pawns), on horseback, on elephants, or in chariots. Somehow on its way to Europe and English, the horses became knights, the chariots rooks, and the elephants bishops. In addition to migrating west and becoming chess, the game migrated east and became the Chinese xiàngqí, which has kept "chariots" and "elephants" - in fact the name xiàngqí literally means "elephant game". Korean janggi is very similar; Japanese shogi is recognizably related to the other games, but quite different, especially as you may drop captured pieces onto the board to augment your own army. (Instead of colors, the sides are distinguished by which way the arrow-shaped pieces are pointing.)
I love Robwords as much as this one. Jess, get your own channel, too! There's over 250k English words (I learned this from Robwords), so there's plenty of etymology to go around.
Thanks for mentioning the meaning of "monopole" in physics. James Maxwell in the 19th century created a unified theory of electric and magnetic forces. In general, it is possible for electric fields to be present as monopoles, but magnetic fields occur only as dipoles. However, from understanding that is beyond me, there is a belief that there is just one magnetic monopole in the universe.
In French 🇨🇵, "solitaire" is used to name the game, but otherwise applies to someone who is used to and/or has chosen to live alone. This can be suffered (in the case of a widow, for example) but not imposed, as it results from a choice, like for a hermit. 👏 Thank you!
In the "back"-area of a backgammon board is called the "lurch." The winner scores a "backgammon" (triple score) if he bears off all his checkers before the opponent has borne off any of his and has one or more checkers left in the lurch.
I love words and language. I'm also half-ass ok at chess. The "connection" between "pawn shop" and "pawn" in chess is fascinating. It has to be related to "least value" (you pawn, sell, sacrifice that which is of least value, and you have a lot of). And then there's "exchanging" (pawning) your pawn for a more valuable piece when the pawn reaches the end of it's journey . (I'm even more half-assed at word entomology, and stuff like that:)
The German verb "pochen" also has the meaning (and is indeed in that way very often) of "to insist". It's then used in the phrase "auf etwas pochen" Which does not mean to knock on something but to insist on something, which fits quite well with a poker bluff.
The mental image that connects "auf etwas pochen" ("to insist on something") and poker is when you "insist" on your opponent laying their cards on the table by staring at them intensively and tapping/knocking just as intensively with your index finger on the table.
11:30 - I remember whist as the card game that Phileas Fogg played as he traveled around the world in 80 days. 16:02 - Mongo is only a pawn in the game of life.
In Spanish the rook is called a torre which means tower. The bishop is called the alfil which is from an old word for elephant which is what the piece was in India.
I have fond memories of vacationing (without my 4 brothers) at my Nana’s house where she taught me pinochle. I still have my deck of pinochle cards … it is a different deck of cards than the standard one. Pinochle was very popular here in the US.
As an Aussie, I had a double chuckle over the cornhole/quoits section. Here and in the UK, quoits is the opposite of tossing a bag through a hole, you throw a 6" ring of woven fibre over a spike. Therefore downunder, quoit has become vernacular for one's "cornhole". I expect had Rob known that, he would've simply imploded :)
"Game" carries a social implication - games always involved people coming together (which I suppose was their real purpose). The roots are "ga" which is equivalent to Latin "co" (meaning 'together' or 'joint enterprise') and "man" which just broadly means people (in Germanic languages). It was shortened in English to avoid confusion of the second syllable (in "gaman") with common grammatical suffixes. Logically therefore, "Patience" and a lot of computer "games" are not games at all, just "pastimes". I remember a lot of books called specifically "Games and Pastimes" so the distinction hasn't entirely been lost.
The word “gambol” having to do with horse’s legs makes sense. I remember a slang word for a woman’s legs that I often heard in movies from the 30s and 40s is “gams”, as in “That dame has a nice set o’ gams!”
Are there episodes that cover words like house, home, apartment, flat, kitchen, chimney, flue, crib, bassinet, robe, slippers? Thank you for the great channel.
Pinochle (pronounced pea+knuckle on USA) requires separate deck, or taking two decks with identical backings and keeping only 9’s, 10’s, Aces, and face cards-two of each suit. The other cards are not present in a 48-card pinochle deck. You are correct that there is bidding, and also melding in addition to strategic discards that comprise the playing of tricks and scoring tricks and melds determines winners, although it is different from contract bridge. Pinochle was popular through the early 20th Century and waned in the 70s. In the 40s-60s friends / couples could get together for an evening of pinochle much as they would for bridge or canasta in those days. Pinochle is said to of come from Germany, although it was derived from two European games of Bezique and Binokel - the corruption of the latter often is attributed as the origin of pinochle. As mentioned, the deck has 48 cards (9,10,J,Q,K,A x 2 x 4 suits) - the Jack of Spades and Queen of Diamonds combination is referred to as a pinochle if memory serves.
I have always understood Pawns in Chess as 'securites'/'pledges' in the sense of a Medival/Fuedal/Military 'Levy'. They are the people/dukes/houses/resources available to the king. They can be Farmer/Soldiers in the Roman sense who are called to battle, or they could be distant families who have influence on various locations/resources which the two kings are battling in the midst of. This also explains why Pawns that reach the end of the board can be promoted. They completed a task given to them by the king and are rewarded with a position of power/aclaim. A Pawn of considerable exploit or value might become 'Knighted' or join the church (Knights and Bishops) or perhaps they become part of the inner circle of the court (Rooks and Queens). This is only an explanation of logic and education. I have no knowledge how the word Pawn came to be, only how the piece would have influenced/been-influenced over it's long history in so many cultures.
Well, at least the name "chemin de fer" is obviously French (because the game itself is). And it means "railroad", the literal meaning being "iron path" from "chemin (path) de (of) fer (iron)".
Chess is an amazing game! And it includes words from many countries and cultures. A few that you missed are Zugzwang, and Zwischenzug from German, and En Passant from French. They fit perfectly in the game, and they are always fun to say.
Where I grew up in Norway tag was called "tikken" and you'd say "tikk" when you caught someone. Interesting to hear there are English versions more similar to that than tag.
The etymology I heard for poker is completely different that the one you give here. I heard it was related to "poke" as in a bag, as in "pig in a poke" (and cognate with the word "bag"). This refers to the pot - the money that accumulates from the betting that the winner gets. Likewise, every source I've read about the etymology of "chess" says that the various ancient names for the game like "chaturanga" mean "four armed" or "four branches", referring either to the four types of military units represented in the game, or to an early variant that was played by four players. I'm not sure where the "anga" part comes from, but the "chatur" is related to "quattro" = "four". And "pawn" may be related to the "security trust" concept not because they provide a line of defense, but because they represent the common foot-soldiers, drafted from the peasants, or "peons" (notice the similarity between "pawn" and "peon"?). And a peon was a person trusted with a parcel of land - to work it and farm on it and live on it, in exchange for fealty to a liege lord. You are correct about "checkmate".
I remember being astonished, when I saw the name "Cornhole" for a game in the toy section of stores in the last 20 or so years. I thought; don't the people marketing this game know, that to cornhole someone is to perform an "unnatural" act on them? Maybe somebody was joking around, & called it the naughty slang term "cornhole", when they taught someone the game, but that someone didn't get the joke, then began to market the game as Cornhole in the 21st Century? I don't remember what this old game was called back in the 20th Century. Was it "Beanbag" or something like that? It certainly wasn't "Cornhole".
I have a chess set which is modelled on a Viking set. The knight is a man slaying a dragon and the bishop is a man carrying a sheep - the shepherd caring for his flock. The rook is a man blowing a ram's horn. It's a fascinating variation on the usual figures.
I was taught by our esteemed Professor at St Andrew's University (philology), that the 'schach mat' in chess, came about during the Crusades, when German crusaders understood the meaning, but not the actual words, when they learnt the game from their captors. The English knights understood even less, hence "check mate". Also mat was related to a 'matt' or lifeless finish on photographs.
I can't, definitely, help you figure out what a pawn actually is. But in Swedish, the piece is called "Bonde" which is a farmer. So the 8 pawns in chess are farmers in Sweden. And farmers in Sweden were usually front line infantry when called into military service. Barely armed, literally there as a meat shield. Pawn is supposedly related to Peon. Someone who is paid for labor, usually quite poorly. Which again relates to how Swedish foot soldiers were compensated for their service. They got paid very little and they really didn't have a choice in the matter. The other pieces are: English piece -> Swedish piece -> English meaning of the Swedish word King -> Kung -> King Queen -> Drottning -> Queen Knight -> Ryttare -> Rider. More specifically, horse rider. And some "circles" (family and friends) call them "häst" (horse) rather than some noble knight. Bishop -> Löpare -> Runner Rook -> Torn -> Tower Maybe this sheds some light on it, maybe it doesn't.
@@Isanniel Yes, you are right. I just haven't heard those frequently enough. Queen -> Dam -> Dame / Madam Knight -> Springare -> Sprinter That said, there are more names and it depends on which part of the country you are in. I just used the most frequent ones I've heard used.
18:14 there’s an equivalent piece in Chinese chess that’s called chariot （車, but pronounced as jü, instead of the normal che)! It also moves the same way the rook does. The character of 車 is meant to look like a chariot/ cart viewed from the top-down.
In the discussion of chess, as played in Europe, excluding Chinese chess or Shogi in Japan, the rook is a problem. I would like your comments on the Lewis chessmen, from Norway. Their rooks were sometimes called “warders” and portrayed as berserkers, who seem to be biting their shields to hold themselves back from battle. This is another reason for moving in a straight line, like a chariot.
I am surprised that Robb did not mention the German name for their version of the English game Ludo - "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" which translates to "Man, don't get angry" which is very apt.
Seconding Rob watching Clue some time in the future. Even if just for Tim Curry as the butler. That said, all of the other actors and their characters are wonderful, and the extended finale, which includes all three endings are fantastic. Personally, of the films of the time in the genre (comedy noir mystery,) this is my favourite, in comparison to The Cheap Detective, and Murder By Death.
The pachisi/ludo like game I grew up playing was Aggravation. My grandparents had a board my granddad made in I think the 70s. I think my mom or sister has that board now, but my granddad and uncle made one for me about 25 years ago that I haven't played for several years. Thanks for the reminder. I never knew the game's origins until this video, but recognized the similarities to the more commercialized Sorry & Trouble.
We learned Fait-ce ci and Fait-ce là for Simon says do this and do that. This was in Canada in French class. We had to pay attention for either "ci" or "là" at the end of extremely fast and short bursts of voice. I remember enjoying it much better than the English version.
While discussing the origins of "Jack" I hoped you would have touched on "Jack of all trades" as a term for everyman. Great video! Keep them coming please!
The rook comes from Persian rukhkh < Arab. ruq (the roc of Sinbad) originally an elephant hence the Russian name slon 'elephant' for the same piece. Chariots were replaced by battle elephants in some verisons with war towers on their backs; the elephant shrank and the tower survives as the castle (which is really only a tower not a castle).
Interestingly in Russian, chess is шахматы (shakhmaty). I understand the reaction of Rob to the game of "cornhole". We called it beanbag toss. Cornhole was something else.
A bit cringe worthy for me, especially using the name around children. I'm old-fashioned, I guess. Much prefer calling it bean bag toss as in my childhood. @elissajaguar
Pinochle is pronounced ( at least in my family) pea-knuckle
That’s the pronunciation I know as well. I grew up in the Midwest.
Yeppers, same here, although I've never played pinochle.
Looks like that's pretty standard, and I ought to have listened before speaking! - Jess
New England here - I've only ever heard that pronunciation.
As soon as Rob said he'd never heard of it, I thought, "If Jess had pronounced it properly he'd know it." As someone who's learnt a second language I'm always intrigued by how you can make a work unrecognisable through minor mispronunciation, because it's something you frustratingly encounter a lot. Ha ha...
Words Unraveled has very quickly risen to one of my all time favorite channels on UA-cam.
Thanks Jess and Rob 😊
Thank you for watching! 🥰
The unleashed joy that Jess and Rob bring to etymology is infectious.
Pawn comes from Peon, which was a foot soldier. Peon goes through Spanish (pedon-walker or foot soldier), to Latin (ped-foot). Whether that directly or indirectly relates to your found word for defense, I don't know, but the front line of foot soldiers was often call the defensive line.
The pawn can also be exchanged for a captured piece (promoted) if it reaches the opposite side of the board; not sure if that plays into the use with pawn shops or not
Peón could be also paid, as in peaje or sallary
Rob, you must see Clue, it is an underrated classic comedy from the 80's. Tremendous cast and keeping different specifics from the game make it a wonderful watch.
And it had different endings, depending on which version you saw.
@@TonyP_Yes-its-Me True! Fortunately all of the endings are on the home releases of the movie.
Not sure it's that underrated. I'm never met anyone who dislikes that movie (indifference at worst).
@jamesgwoodwork it was not popular when it debuted, it was a cult classic after the fact. I consider it underrated as a lot of people I've known have never seen it.
@@ZenthaneX of course there's the comedy Murder by Death,a Tim Curry classic!💘💘💘
When the game "Trouble" (Rob's "Frustration") was released in the US in the '60's, by the Milton Bradley company, they marketed that little domed dice-popper in the middle as a highlight of playing the game, and advertised it on TV as "Pop-o-matic Trouble". Nice job with the sound, Rob, I think you nailed it! ;)
The discussion about the knight being a horse in chess made me think of the scene in the British sitcom "Bottom" where they are attempting to play the game.
"How does the racehorse move again?"
"It's not a racehorse, it's a knight."
"Where's the knight then?"
"Well, he must've fallen off."
"Not much of a knight then, is he?!"
@@666deadman1988 🤣
Not every country calls it a night. I believe the Russians call it a horse. However, like today, various pieces can have characteristics. For instance, there is a Star Trek themed chess set using characters and set pieces from the 1960s TV show. It is possible that some set pieces, since they were all hand made at the time, had knights as pieces.
@@orlock20
In German, one can call the chess knight "Pferd" ( = horse), too, in addition to "Springer". "Pferd" is the "layman's term", while in chess clubs and such you'll probably rather hear "Springer"
Paard 🇳🇱, after all, that's what it is.
And furthermore, there are:
Toren (Rook);
Loper (Bishop);
Dame/Koningin (Queen);
Koning (King);
Pion (pawn).
In my chess set the knight rides a horse. The Spanish call the knight: caballo, horse.
My parents played Pinocle a lot back in the 1960s and I learned the game from them. It requires a special deck of 48 cards including only 9 through Ace values. I grew up in Missouri and I only ever heard this game pronounced "PEE'-KNUCKLE". Not sure if that is the generally accepted pronunciation in the U.S., but I think it may be. Your show is great, by the way. You guys are bad ass wordsmiths. And yes, you got GAME!
As a Scot, the immediate connection I found with "wist" for silence was the Scots language word "wheesht" to mean something like "hush" - often rendered "haud yer wheesht".
Incidentally, etymonline also notes that the word "hush" was "huisht" in middle english. The origin of "wistful" seems to be distinct.
Same in Ireland. It also means Listen, because you need to be quiet to do so.
a Cymraeg. And in Welsh
In Gaelic it can be ist! or uist! Meaning be quiet
And depending on whereabouts in Scotland you come from, it can be wheesht or whisht.
In Geordie too - 'wheesht lads, had yer gobs' means to be quiet.
1. A dire song from my youth includes the lyrics:
"The worms go in, the worms go out,
The worms play 'pea-knuckle' [pinochle] on your snout."
2. When "Clue" the movie was first released in the States, it depended on which cinema you saw it in as to which ending you got. Three different endings were filmed. For later, and overseas, releases, all three were bundled together at the end of the film.
- *excellent* film! 😊
3. Tag/Tick-a-nick - in Australia (and possibly NZ), it's always been Tiggy.
Interesting! In the English version I learned from my father it's _'The worms go in and the worms go out / The worms come tumbling down your snout.'_
😄
@@nbell63 Tag was called "tips" where I grew up (Northern NSW).
no. it’s the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout, they crawl on friends and your friend’s friends, too, if you don’t watch out; they’ll crawl into you! 🐛 😅
The "poly" bit in monopoly comes from the greek poleo, meaning to sell. A monopolist is the only one that sells a product. I am not etymologist, by the way, but I teach economics. Great channel by the way
TIL the word "monopsony" which is the opposite
@@TuralcarOf all the new words I learned in law school, monopsony was my favorite, from antitrust class.
Also, fun fact, in the US we call competition law "antitrust" because the first tool to stifle competition was a "trust," which is when the people making decisions about money or property are doing it for someone else's benefit. So they hold it "in trust" because it isn't for their own benefit, but they are trusted to do right by someone else. The trusts in this case were groups formed by the various competitors to create policy that they would then all follow to their mutual benefit rather than competing. They were not really behaving as trusts, but they used the same legal form as trusts.
No bro. Poly means "many" in Greek. You have confused your word origins, and are misinforming people.
The movie Clue is one of Tim Curry's best roles. You definitely need to watch it, Rob.
Several American's have told me this movie 'Clue' is brilliant. So I watched it, and I guess I just didn't get what was great about it. It was 'OK' - it made me smile at moments - but it never made me laugh out loud (and I adore Tim Curry). Perhaps Rob will have a markedly better experience! [Yes - I have seen the different endings]
@@schubertuk It's like a classic type of absurd farce that was very popular on stage in decades past. It feels like an older movie in its execution, with its snappy and clever dialogue, and where sly innuendo-ish humor is allowed, without the film being outright "dirty" with sex or being blatant with violence. Most of the film would be at home in the 1940s, with a few exceptions. Part of the reason why I love it.
@@peteg475 I appreciate that - and indeed your attempt to help. I have watched it several times (at the behest of other fans): it just doesn't make me laugh. I appreciate my position is in the minority. And I am a big Tim Curry fan - I like him in Clue - just not the whole movie. Murder by Death made a similar dull thud with me too.
16:10 In Spanish the chess piece is called “peón” with the apparent connotation of the English “peon.” I think it aligns with the medieval war model with knights and bishops, etc.
24:42 the "poly" in "monopoly" is not actually "poly" as in many at all, but from "polein" meaning to sell. A monopolist, who has a monopoly, is a singular seller; opposite a monopsonist, a singular buyer, who has a monopsony, from "opsonia" meaning to buy.
On the other hand, the (not game related) Korg Mono/Poly synthesizer, though likely intended as a play on the word “monopoly,” really does mean “mono” and “poly” since it can act as a 4-voice polyphonic synth (4 notes playing at a time) or can play only one note at a time (monophonic) with more complex sound (essentially all voices working together). Totally unrelated, but interesting nonetheless.
Which language are you using for these definitions?
@@Pocketfarmer1If you mean what language do these roots come from, Greek.
@@jasonlescalleet5611 Nice to see another synth-head in here, I was thinking similarly.
I once played piezoelectricity in Scrabble. I even had the z on a triple word score tile! Everyone challenged me and we found it in the dictionary. It was a high point in my life!
Actually I guess the z was on the double letter. An memory!
@@yogawithlisasxm5429 You get bragging rights for comments on your own comment. Double word score.
@@Στο_πιο_δικαιο I challenge!
It's damn criminal that this channel has only 36.3k subscribers. This means there are 36.3k less than the entire world's population missing out on this delightful channel.
Ive just recomnended it to a Lady in the US that I know through a group in a game. Messages are open so maybe someone else will spot it as well.
Absolutely agree!
At least the Anglosphere...
I know my Scottish great granny used to use the word wisht (not sure if that's the spelling) for "to be quiet". Interesting the card game whist is related
TBF is a new channel and primarily a podcast.
Saying that it is along with Storied the best Ethnology channel on UA-cam and will definitely grow a lot more.
Pinochle was my dad’s favorite game. Here in Kansas, we pronounce it pea-knuckle. It is played with a double deck of cards. I never learned the game being a “Pitch” burnout from my childhood because that game required four players and my mom, dad, and only sibling loved the game.
A double deck but no cards below 9. And different because a 10 outranks anything but an ace. Definitely pronounced pea-knuckle. It does not require four players but when played with four becomes a team game. Can be played with two or three, but when played with three, a hand is 15 cards instead of 12.
To be game, as in, "I'm game," means either to be ready or to be willing, or both. Thus I'm game for continuing to watch this video once I've finished typing.
I thoroughly enjoy the witty banter that the two of you have and I like the chemistry between the two of you. I literally wait for each episode with bated breath. Also, I think Jess is kind of cute. 😊
Bated, not baited.
@@AdDewaard-hu3xk You know, it was bated initially but I changed it. I will change it back. Thank you. :)
Agreed, on the innuendo as well as the cuteness.
Literally waiting with bated breath? You need a hobby. :-)
@pdyt2009 Have you never heard of exaggerating for effect?
One game not mentioned here is "jacks" aka. "knucklebones" - a game of agility involving a rubber ball and little clay cubes (which would originally have been bones of appropriate size) or blunt caltrops (which are the "jacks"). Military caltrops (with sharp spikes, to pierce bootsoles or tyres) are sometimes known as jackrocks.
Strictly speaking a jack is a boy (or a "youth"), especially a servant, not an adult man or an "everyman". The word "knave" has the same youthful (and rascally) connotations - and modern Danish has "knægt", meaning "lad".
Tools called "jack" replace boys who once had those jobs (when child labour was not forbidden). The boy who pulled off your boot was a "boot-jack", which is what we call the wooden gadget that helps do the same job. The boy who rang the bell on the hour was "jack o' the clock" (later occasionally implemented as a mechanical figure with that very name) and the boy who held the cart while you changed the wheel was just "jack".
Boys (being small, agile and recklessly unaware of their own mortality) were typically sent up towers to fix weathervanes and lightning conductors and whatnot, a profession now known as "steeplejack", "lumberjack" is similar, and presumably the word "jockey" (invariably riders of small-stature) shares the same origin.
Various gadgets and tools in Danish end with the suffix _-knægt_ for example "hyldeknægt" - a shelf bracket, or "støvleknægt" which is a boot jack.
A "jack" is also a nautical term, referring to a signal flag (presumably hoisted by young lads on board ship) with aspect ratio of 2:1. A "union jack" is the British national emblem flown at sea with the signal flag aspect ratio. The union flag flown on land has the aspect ratio 5:3. It is strictly incorrect to refer to this latter emblem as a "union jack".
I have often wondered at the origins of “jack” everything. I think this could be a whole podcast!
Thank you! By the way, I found an antique metal jack (from the children's game) in the garden of our Victorian house -- only slightly larger and heavier than modern jacks, instantly recognizable.
Reminds me of the Muppet Movie.
"Jack not name. Jack job" says the giant monster who lifts a car by the bumper and drags it away
There's a Dutch game called Schwarte Piet - Black Peter; probably has some relationship with the Moorish pirate/slave trader who accompanies St Nicholas. The Black Peter in this game is a forfeit, and is a card you don't want, and the object is to pass it off on an opponent. This gives rise to the expresssion, "Pass the Black Pete - Pass the Buck".
Also a sailor as a man Jack. “Every Man Jack”. Also Jack o’ Lantern. Not sure about Jack Hammer or modern usages as Jacked Up. Jack off (also jag off). Jack of all Trades, car Jack, Tire Jack, Hijack too. :)
Chess: the Bishops were originally Elephants in the Persian version of the game. Elephants were used in battle and were notorious for not charging straight. The elephant pieces were often shaped like like tusks. The British thought the tusks looks like bishops’ hats. The French thought the tusks looked like a Jester’s hat so the French name is Le Fou (the fool). Maybe because they moved at an angle.
I once bought a chess set in Istanbul. White is medieval Christian and black is a Muslim (Ottoman) army. The bishops are indeed elephants. Now I can tell my son why we call the elephants "bishops". Cheers!
Regarding bridge, “one three” only seems relevant as far as it could be interpreted as “thirteen”. Each player starts with a hand of 13 cards, in the deck there are 13 cards of each suit, and in the play of one deal there are 13 rounds of play called “tricks”. The skill is in watching and remembering which cards have been played to help you determine which card you should play next, which is often referred to as “counting to 13”.
I thought maybe because in the game, one player is "dummy" while the other three play. But I think your explanation is better.
Its a while since I played bridge and I was only a novice. But I didnt recall anything to do with 1 and 3.
Very enjoyable game.
That's what I immediately thought of, 52 cards between 4 players equals 13 cards each.
I don't play bridge but I'm passingly familiar with trick taking games. I thought the Russian "Herald" idea might make better sense than "1-3" because you declare (herald?) a suit and number of tricks during the bidding mechanic before actually laying any cards on the table..?
@@brian_jacksonI think you are more likely to be right, because a lot of card games are played with decks which do not have 52 cards in - especially when played in countries with other languages. Many play with decks of 36, 32, 40, or even 78 cards in a deck. So Bridge presumably wouldn’t have 13 cards per player in those countries.
I can only watch this on UA-cam because I have to see Jess make Rob blush. Hilarious every time. 🤣
i like to put the time stamps!!!
And every episode brings out his "humor"
Clue (the movie) is definitely one of my all-time favourite comedies - and Tim Curry was the perfect butler.
I saw a stage production of it just last month. The actor playing the butler was wonderful, but he reminded me more of Hugh Laurie than Tim Curry.
One of my favorite souvenirs from studying abroad in Scotland is a crossword puzzle book that I brought with me to Scotland. I left it in the common room and my flatmates started filling it in with the stock answers for a Scottish person. They were mostly wrong but still fit into the spaces, things like GPs instead of MDs for doctors. It still makes me smile to think about it!
The interesting thing about Clue (the movie) is it had multiple endings and the ending you got to see depended on which theater you saw the movie at. This was long before DVDs existed.
It's a shame the film was more cult than classic. I think multiple endings in more movies would be fun.
It would be interesting if your friends and family saw it in different cinemas then talked about the film afterwards. You all wouldn’t have a clue.
Omg! Ive seen people playing draughts in books! Never knew it was checkers! Clarity achieved!
Yeah, I always thought it would have been a card game.
@@rnptenafly same! or something light tiddlywinks! at least i thought it would involve cups or drinking in some way! Like a draught of whiskey or something!
Whist, the word, is interesting for me. In the vernacular where I grew up in Fife, "wheesht!" or "haud yer wheesht!" (hold your peace!) was a pretty common way to tell someone to be quiet, and I see similarities with the Swedish "tyst" as in "håll tyst!" "keep quiet!"
beat me to it
Here in Ireland too "whisht" would be used to tell someone to keep quiet
I'm from Northern Ireland and heard this many times from my ma growing up!
@@666deadman1988 I'm from Belfast, and in our family we'd say 'houl yer wheesht' if you wanted someone to be quiet.
The word “whisht” meaning “be quiet” is from the Irish word “éist” meaning “listen”. The Swedish word “tyst” also exists in Irish as “tost” with a similar meaning of being silent or shut up.
“Pawn” comes from the Old French word “paon”, which derives from the Medieval Latin term for "foot soldier" and is cognate with “peon”.
Yes, the Rook piece in chess is a borrowing from the Persian “rukh”, meaning “war chariot”. As the game made its way to Europe from Persia and India, the pieces were reinterpreted based on appearance. In the older versions of the game, those pieces depicted war chariots, which in real life were reinforced with wood and metal bulwarks, and often decorated to resemble stone walls. Abstracted to a square structure in the game pieces, they appeared to European eyes to look like a siege tower, a wheeled scaffold tower with protective walls that would allow attacking soldiers to climb a castle wall in greater safety from arrows and such when pushed up against a castle wall. Like a reinforced chariot, it was something of a juggernaut, and would be pushed or drawn in a straight line towards the target. Over time, its form changed slightly to depict not an attacking tower, but a defensive one of a castle or keep. I wonder if this depiction was reinforced by the action of “castling”, where the King and a Rook exchange places in one move to whisk the king to safety behind the protection of the Rook, and usually a few pawns. Castling in its current form wasn’t added until the 15th - 16th centuries.
The Queen was originally the Vizier, a Prime Minister or advisor to the King, and is still known as such in many countries, such as Iran and Russia (Ferz) and in Arabic-speaking or influenced countries (Vazir/Wazir). In many European countries, it came to be known as Queen or similar, perhaps due to the robed appearance of the Vizier in abstract pieces, perhaps under the influence of courtly romance in the troubadour tradition, perhaps in a nod to the fact that the game was something men and women at court could play against each other. In Spain, it is called La Dama, likely a reference the Virgin Mary. The Queen’s ability to move any number of squares like a Bishop or Rook may have arisen as a bit of politics in the Spanish court as a nod to the power and influence of Queen Isabella I, and may have spread through Europe by either the advent of the printing press, the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, who carried the new rule with them to other countries, or both.
The Bishop is more complicated. Its was originally a war elephant (Alfil in Persian), and corruptions of that are retained in many European countries like Italy and Spain that were among the first to get the game from the East. In English it was originally called the Aufin or Alphin, but also the Archer (which I think is a title more descriptive of its movement and role in the game, often sniping from afar). Some Slavic languages also call it the Archer. In other Germanic languages it is called the messenger or runner, as in a king’s or military messenger in battle. It has also ben called and depicted as a camel or crocodile. But, the modern bishop shape is an abstraction of a person wearing a bishop’s mitre (hat). In French it is called the Fou (fool, jester), because they thought the depiction of a bishop’s mitre resembled a jester’s cap.
The King is always the King.
I like to think that, when Cluedo was imported to the US, they had to chop off and store all the 'do's, so much that excess inventory became a problem. Then, when Where's Wally was imported, they dug out all those excess 'do's to rename it to Where's Waldo.
10/10 theory right here.
I've had similar thoughts! But I wonder... after changing all the Wallys to Waldos, what are they going to do with the excess -ly's?
@@michaels4340 Lolly sold them at his adverb store.
I believe all the lys were used by politicians
@@michaelturner2806 🤣🤣🤣🤣
In Dutch chess is called Schaak/Schaken, and check/checkmate are Schaak/Schaakmat. A quick google tells me it's similar in German. Interesting how the "Shah mat" got so well preserved. Pawn is pion, rook is toren (tower), knight is paard (horse), and the bishop is called the loper (walker). The queen is also called the dame (lady), though koningin (queen) is used as well. The king is just the koning (king).
Also checkers is called Dammen. I guess it's like building a dam? idk
In most languages, Checkers is called Dame(s), as these are the more powerful pieces you get when one of yours reaches the opposite row of the board. But I can't tell why the English crown Kings in this case while the continent turns Men into Ladies.
Konig und Konigen
Oh man, you must see the film "Clue". It has a fantastic cast and is legitimately wonderful.
It's one of my favorites! Murder by Death is similarly funny.
And it has 3 different endings
That sounds like a red herring 😏
*Clue* is a delightful movie. I love it.
I always thought a castle in chess was like a siege tower rather than a static fortress.
Castling is a verb for a special movement in chess. There were different attempts of what that was, but in modern chess it's basically hiding the king in the corner while moving the rook toward the center (the king hides in his castle). Western chess has had several rule changes through the centuries and there are Eastern varieties as well.
The rook is half a piece of an original chessboard piece from India. The original piece was the rook we know sitting on top of an elephant.
Pawn is a word for peasant as in the Spanish word peon.
In version 1.0 of Western chess, the king was "killed" so it was possible for a king to kill another king. This carries over in modern chess in which the losing player tips the king over to symbolize defeat.
@@orlock20 I’m a plebeian who is rubbish at playing chess so I have always just called it a castle because of it having crenellations round the top. 🤣
@@orlock20 Hence, presumably, the Elephant and Castle as in the name of a pub or a London placename.
Yeah as I’ve read you two are the new stars. Been watching, Rob for a couple of years, “Jess and Rob’ for the better part of more than a year. Keep it going please.😜
Fitting with the theory of Rob, in French 🇨🇵, a pawn is called a "pion", which comes from the Latin pedo, pedonis , a foot soldier who can be moved around on the order of the king during battles.
Interesting that 'pion' pronounced in English would be peon, a person of low value or expendable like a pawn of war.
Came here to say the same thing
@@elissajaguar Ditto
Yes, in Italian, as I learned from Italian chess players online, a pawn is a "pedone": a walker, or in modern terms, a pedestrian.
Absolutely the same for Portuguese: "peão".
38:29 Quoits is not a bean bag toss in Aus - its a game with a small pole to which you cast rings to see if you can get one on the pole. More poled, more points
That's what I know of as "quoits" in the UK too. A pole you throw rings at.
Yes Rob you definitely need to see Clue. It’s smart and funny
Y’all gotta clip the cornhole bit. Too good. Love the show. Great chemistry. Rob’s blushes alone could have their own shorts page.
Make a Short upload out of it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody blush so vividly on YT, lol.. endearing…
One for Rob, the movie Clue was directed by Jonathan Lynn who was most famous in the UK for co-writing Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister which (for those that don’t know) was famed for it’s wordplay and verbiage.
Thanks so much for the EQ on Jess's voice. Her voice was driving me crazy on the older episodes. Good work, great show.
One thing I learned from Tom Scott's video on "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" is that the name of the game of 'tag' has an enormous variety of regional variations in the UK, but is just universally called 'tag' in the US. So "what was the game called in your school?" Is a weird question to an American.
Not only this, but a wide variety of regional words to excuse oneself from tag, such as fainights, pax, and cruces! In the United States this is almost always time-out.
It's funny how which words have the most regional variations is not a constant internationally, like how Americans don't have nearly so many terms for bread rolls as the Brits. There are of course regional names for pop, but over much larger dialect areas, and the UK has some of those, too (fizzy drink, fizzy juice, pop, mineral). I'll have to check out that Tom Scott vid
We call "tag" tig in Central Scotland.
We called it "tips" in New South Wales and Canberra in Australia. Melbourne and Adelaide probably have different names because they're weird 😂
I called it touch growing up in the 90s and early 2000s in Bristol. We also played a game called stuck in the mud, when you were caught you'd stand in place with your legs apart and one of the other people being chased could crawl between your legs to free you
Presumably related to tag was a game I enjoyed when I lived in Singapore which we called Kingie (or Kingy) - which I later learned was known as Hot Rice when I returned to the UK). The person who was 'it' had a tennis ball, which they threw at anyone else who was playing, aiming to hit them in the torso. If they succeeded, they joined the original person in throwing the ball at the other players. The other players could not pick the ball up or throw it, but they could hit it with their fists to send if off in another direction. Great fun.
This was a fascinating episode! Thanks for all you do, Rob and Jess - truly my favorite videos to watch! ❤❤
Thank you for watching!
Pinochle is played with a special deck. It only has 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, but has two of each (in all suits).
Often we had to restart a card game when we mistakenly took our parent’s pinochle deck.
And the ten is next down from the ace. Values are A-10-K-Q-J-9 and no other cards.
On top of pinochle having a 48 card deck, there's also double pinochle that has 80 cards, which uses two pinochle decks without the 9s.
I was lured into a pinochle game once with my parents and some people they knew at an picnic and I could not figure it out and I've never played it since.
My parents used to play pinochle all the time in Ohio, they just loved it. ♠️♦️♣️♥️
8:48 can confirm pinochle pretty popular in the Midwest, at least among older folks. It's a bidding and trick taking game.
Same. Though our family pronounced it "pea-knuckle".
A good family game: easy enough for 10-year-olds to play, but admitting of strategies that gave adults an edge, and a social element that led to a lot of amusing table talk.
@larrywest42 yeah we pronounce it that way also.
I have to agree with the must watch clue crowd . Rob you must watch the movie it is one you will never forget. Love you guys . Nerds will rule the world and you two will be King and Queen.🤟
This episode was pure fun, as games are meant to be.
I've heard pawns also called Squires. I'm curious if the "pledge" aspect of pawn comes into play or if it's like a "pledged footman" sort of idea.
On the chariot idea XiangQi, a Chinese game related to chess, still has chariots and wagons.
Chess was originally called Chaturanga, literally "four arms" (chatur having the same I-E root as quadr-, Russian четыре "chetirye", etc); the non-royal pieces represented four ways soldiers got around in an army of the day: on foot (pawns), on horseback, on elephants, or in chariots. Somehow on its way to Europe and English, the horses became knights, the chariots rooks, and the elephants bishops. In addition to migrating west and becoming chess, the game migrated east and became the Chinese xiàngqí, which has kept "chariots" and "elephants" - in fact the name xiàngqí literally means "elephant game". Korean janggi is very similar; Japanese shogi is recognizably related to the other games, but quite different, especially as you may drop captured pieces onto the board to augment your own army. (Instead of colors, the sides are distinguished by which way the arrow-shaped pieces are pointing.)
I love Robwords as much as this one. Jess, get your own channel, too! There's over 250k English words (I learned this from Robwords), so there's plenty of etymology to go around.
My preferred platform is TikTok! I have a pretty tidy following over there. - Jess
Clue is my favorit movie of all time!
The statement "card games are just bad English pronunciation of foreign words" will stay with me forever.
Of course rhat covers at peast a third of English
I can just imagine learning card games, and those related terms, from foreign strangers!
I have so much fun listening to these episodes. I just hope one day you guys throw a party and invite me!
Thanks for mentioning the meaning of "monopole" in physics. James Maxwell in the 19th century created a unified theory of electric and magnetic forces. In general, it is possible for electric fields to be present as monopoles, but magnetic fields occur only as dipoles. However, from understanding that is beyond me, there is a belief that there is just one magnetic monopole in the universe.
Cornhole!!!! Quoits!!! You two had me laughing until I cried!
In French 🇨🇵, "solitaire" is used to name the game, but otherwise applies to someone who is used to and/or has chosen to live alone. This can be suffered (in the case of a widow, for example) but not imposed, as it results from a choice, like for a hermit.
👏 Thank you!
I would pay real money to see 'Rob and Jess watch Clue together.'
In the "back"-area of a backgammon board is called the "lurch." The winner scores a "backgammon" (triple score) if he bears off all his checkers before the opponent has borne off any of his and has one or more checkers left in the lurch.
I love words and language. I'm also half-ass ok at chess.
The "connection" between "pawn shop" and "pawn" in chess is fascinating.
It has to be related to "least value" (you pawn, sell, sacrifice that which is of least value, and you have a lot of).
And then there's "exchanging" (pawning) your pawn for a more valuable piece when the pawn reaches the end of it's journey .
(I'm even more half-assed at word entomology, and stuff like that:)
Thanks for telling the Landlord Game story.
Capitalists truly will use anticapitalist messaging for its own advantage if you aren't explicit and radical enough.
I've been meaning to find the rules for the collaborative version & see how the play is different
The German verb "pochen" also has the meaning (and is indeed in that way very often) of "to insist". It's then used in the phrase "auf etwas pochen" Which does not mean to knock on something but to insist on something, which fits quite well with a poker bluff.
And pochen is also "bluffen" in Dutch!
@@MeteorMark Pochen in Dutch still means brag.
@@AJansenNLthat's what I meant
The mental image that connects "auf etwas pochen" ("to insist on something") and poker is when you "insist" on your opponent laying their cards on the table by staring at them intensively and tapping/knocking just as intensively with your index finger on the table.
The custom of knocking on the table could have influenced the name.
Always so interesting, great fun to learn all these things about where words come from. You two are great to listen to!
11:30 - I remember whist as the card game that Phileas Fogg played as he traveled around the world in 80 days. 16:02 - Mongo is only a pawn in the game of life.
Such a joyous channel!! We need this in these troubled times.
In Spanish the rook is called a torre which means tower. The bishop is called the alfil which is from an old word for elephant which is what the piece was in India.
Also a tower (la tour) in french, but the fool (fou) instead of the Bishop.
@@Anne-Enez You mean the fool, right? Et la tour, y la torre. (le tour is a different word)
They could have spent a lot more time on chess pieces.
German:
Pawn = Bauer (literally "farmer", peasant, villager)
King = König ("king", no surprise there ;-) )
Queen = Dame
Rook = Turm ("tower")
Knight = Springer (jumper) or simply Pferd (horse)
Bishop = Läufer ("runner")
I have fond memories of vacationing (without my 4 brothers) at my Nana’s house where she taught me pinochle. I still have my deck of pinochle cards … it is a different deck of cards than the standard one. Pinochle was very popular here in the US.
Clue the Movie is Madeline Kahn, and Christopher Lloyd turned up to 11 .. and Tim Curry turned up to 12 ... !
As an Aussie, I had a double chuckle over the cornhole/quoits section. Here and in the UK, quoits is the opposite of tossing a bag through a hole, you throw a 6" ring of woven fibre over a spike. Therefore downunder, quoit has become vernacular for one's "cornhole". I expect had Rob known that, he would've simply imploded :)
As a kid, even though I didn’t know how to play it, I knew the game was called backgammon because it was on the back of the checkerboard.
Thanks for one of our favorite channels. My wife and I never miss a show. And also, thanks Jess for the Clue movie suggestion: it was great!
"Game" carries a social implication - games always involved people coming together (which I suppose was their real purpose). The roots are "ga" which is equivalent to Latin "co" (meaning 'together' or 'joint enterprise') and "man" which just broadly means people (in Germanic languages). It was shortened in English to avoid confusion of the second syllable (in "gaman") with common grammatical suffixes. Logically therefore, "Patience" and a lot of computer "games" are not games at all, just "pastimes". I remember a lot of books called specifically "Games and Pastimes" so the distinction hasn't entirely been lost.
The word “gambol” having to do with horse’s legs makes sense. I remember a slang word for a woman’s legs that I often heard in movies from the 30s and 40s is “gams”, as in “That dame has a nice set o’ gams!”
German has it as "Schachmatt" - the word for chess (Schach) combined with the word for exhausted (matt) and is thus fairly close to the Persian.
Are there episodes that cover words like house, home, apartment, flat, kitchen, chimney, flue, crib, bassinet, robe, slippers? Thank you for the great channel.
Pinochle (pronounced pea+knuckle on USA) requires separate deck, or taking two decks with identical backings and keeping only 9’s, 10’s, Aces, and face cards-two of each suit. The other cards are not present in a 48-card pinochle deck.
You are correct that there is bidding, and also melding in addition to strategic discards that comprise the playing of tricks and scoring tricks and melds determines winners, although it is different from contract bridge.
Pinochle was popular through the early 20th Century and waned in the 70s. In the 40s-60s friends / couples could get together for an evening of pinochle much as they would for bridge or canasta in those days.
Pinochle is said to of come from Germany, although it was derived from two European games of Bezique and Binokel - the corruption of the latter often is attributed as the origin of pinochle.
As mentioned, the deck has 48 cards (9,10,J,Q,K,A x 2 x 4 suits) - the Jack of Spades and Queen of Diamonds combination is referred to as a pinochle if memory serves.
Fabulous, thank you!
A "pinochle" is a jack of diamonds and queen of spades and worth 40 points in the melding phase.
I have always understood Pawns in Chess as 'securites'/'pledges' in the sense of a Medival/Fuedal/Military 'Levy'. They are the people/dukes/houses/resources available to the king. They can be Farmer/Soldiers in the Roman sense who are called to battle, or they could be distant families who have influence on various locations/resources which the two kings are battling in the midst of.
This also explains why Pawns that reach the end of the board can be promoted. They completed a task given to them by the king and are rewarded with a position of power/aclaim. A Pawn of considerable exploit or value might become 'Knighted' or join the church (Knights and Bishops) or perhaps they become part of the inner circle of the court (Rooks and Queens).
This is only an explanation of logic and education. I have no knowledge how the word Pawn came to be, only how the piece would have influenced/been-influenced over it's long history in so many cultures.
As kids, our dad would play pontoon (blackjack) with us every sunday, we also played a game called Manila ( Texas holdem ).
“The King can’t even.”
I truly love this. 😂
Thanks so much for this cheerful episode ❤😊
I'm from Las Vegas, NV and I wish a few more of our games had been covered, i.e. baccarat or chemin de fer, roulette, craps and keno.
I was hoping for Yahtzee and Cribbage.
Well, at least the name "chemin de fer" is obviously French (because the game itself is). And it means "railroad", the literal meaning being "iron path" from "chemin (path) de (of) fer (iron)".
Chess is an amazing game! And it includes words from many countries and cultures.
A few that you missed are Zugzwang, and Zwischenzug from German, and En Passant from French.
They fit perfectly in the game, and they are always fun to say.
Where I grew up in Norway tag was called "tikken" and you'd say "tikk" when you caught someone. Interesting to hear there are English versions more similar to that than tag.
Comes of going to school in the old Danelaw regions 😁
The etymology I heard for poker is completely different that the one you give here.
I heard it was related to "poke" as in a bag, as in "pig in a poke" (and cognate with the word "bag"). This refers to the pot - the money that accumulates from the betting that the winner gets.
Likewise, every source I've read about the etymology of "chess" says that the various ancient names for the game like "chaturanga" mean "four armed" or "four branches", referring either to the four types of military units represented in the game, or to an early variant that was played by four players. I'm not sure where the "anga" part comes from, but the "chatur" is related to "quattro" = "four".
And "pawn" may be related to the "security trust" concept not because they provide a line of defense, but because they represent the common foot-soldiers, drafted from the peasants, or "peons" (notice the similarity between "pawn" and "peon"?). And a peon was a person trusted with a parcel of land - to work it and farm on it and live on it, in exchange for fealty to a liege lord.
You are correct about "checkmate".
I remember being astonished, when I saw the name "Cornhole" for a game in the toy section of stores in the last 20 or so years. I thought; don't the people marketing this game know, that to cornhole someone is to perform an "unnatural" act on them? Maybe somebody was joking around, & called it the naughty slang term "cornhole", when they taught someone the game, but that someone didn't get the joke, then began to market the game as Cornhole in the 21st Century?
I don't remember what this old game was called back in the 20th Century. Was it "Beanbag" or something like that? It certainly wasn't "Cornhole".
I am English and had only heard the term "cornhole" from an American film. So I was a little shocked when Jess mentioned it!!
I have a chess set which is modelled on a Viking set. The knight is a man slaying a dragon and the bishop is a man carrying a sheep - the shepherd caring for his flock. The rook is a man blowing a ram's horn. It's a fascinating variation on the usual figures.
Wow I’m realising quite how many card games I can play thanks Auntie Mary 😁
Auntie Mary is the GOAT!
I was taught by our esteemed Professor at St Andrew's University (philology), that the 'schach mat' in chess, came about during the Crusades, when German crusaders understood the meaning, but not the actual words, when they learnt the game from their captors. The English knights understood even less, hence "check mate". Also mat was related to a 'matt' or lifeless finish on photographs.
That fact about check's etymology blew me away!
One of my favorite etymology facts! - Jess
@@WordsUnravelledalso not mentioned, draught is a synonym for a check in banking!
I can't, definitely, help you figure out what a pawn actually is. But in Swedish, the piece is called "Bonde" which is a farmer.
So the 8 pawns in chess are farmers in Sweden.
And farmers in Sweden were usually front line infantry when called into military service. Barely armed, literally there as a meat shield.
Pawn is supposedly related to Peon. Someone who is paid for labor, usually quite poorly. Which again relates to how Swedish foot soldiers were compensated for their service. They got paid very little and they really didn't have a choice in the matter.
The other pieces are:
English piece -> Swedish piece -> English meaning of the Swedish word
King -> Kung -> King
Queen -> Drottning -> Queen
Knight -> Ryttare -> Rider. More specifically, horse rider. And some "circles" (family and friends) call them "häst" (horse) rather than some noble knight.
Bishop -> Löpare -> Runner
Rook -> Torn -> Tower
Maybe this sheds some light on it, maybe it doesn't.
But, aren't the queen called Dam and the knight springare? I've never heared anything else.
@@Isanniel Yes, you are right. I just haven't heard those frequently enough.
Queen -> Dam -> Dame / Madam
Knight -> Springare -> Sprinter
That said, there are more names and it depends on which part of the country you are in.
I just used the most frequent ones I've heard used.
18:14 there’s an equivalent piece in Chinese chess that’s called chariot （車, but pronounced as jü, instead of the normal che)! It also moves the same way the rook does. The character of 車 is meant to look like a chariot/ cart viewed from the top-down.
That pronunciation comes from a less popular (at the time) dialect of Chinese. In Cantonese, it is "chea" like chair and yeah.
In the discussion of chess, as played in Europe, excluding Chinese chess or Shogi in Japan, the rook is a problem. I would like your comments on the Lewis chessmen, from Norway. Their rooks were sometimes called “warders” and portrayed as berserkers, who seem to be biting their shields to hold themselves back from battle. This is another reason for moving in a straight line, like a chariot.
I am surprised that Robb did not mention the German name for their version of the English game Ludo - "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" which translates to "Man, don't get angry" which is very apt.
In England, we have another variant called Sorry
Thanks!
Wow, that's so generous! Thank you very much.
R & J
Seconding Rob watching Clue some time in the future. Even if just for Tim Curry as the butler. That said, all of the other actors and their characters are wonderful, and the extended finale, which includes all three endings are fantastic.
Personally, of the films of the time in the genre (comedy noir mystery,) this is my favourite, in comparison to The Cheap Detective, and Murder By Death.
The pachisi/ludo like game I grew up playing was Aggravation. My grandparents had a board my granddad made in I think the 70s. I think my mom or sister has that board now, but my granddad and uncle made one for me about 25 years ago that I haven't played for several years. Thanks for the reminder. I never knew the game's origins until this video, but recognized the similarities to the more commercialized Sorry & Trouble.
When I was a kid in UK we had a card game called Lexicon which was identical to scrabble but without the board.
We learned Fait-ce ci and Fait-ce là for Simon says do this and do that. This was in Canada in French class. We had to pay attention for either "ci" or "là" at the end of extremely fast and short bursts of voice. I remember enjoying it much better than the English version.
My favorite riddle: why is a raven like a writing desk?
While discussing the origins of "Jack" I hoped you would have touched on "Jack of all trades" as a term for everyman. Great video! Keep them coming please!
I'm surprised when solitaire was brought up that Rob didn't mention the English word for it: Patience.
The rook comes from Persian rukhkh < Arab. ruq (the roc of Sinbad) originally an elephant hence the Russian name slon 'elephant' for the same piece. Chariots were replaced by battle elephants in some verisons with war towers on their backs; the elephant shrank and the tower survives as the castle (which is really only a tower not a castle).
Interestingly in Russian, chess is шахматы (shakhmaty). I understand the reaction of Rob to the game of "cornhole". We called it beanbag toss. Cornhole was something else.
Yep, gets me every time.
A bit cringe worthy for me, especially using the name around children. I'm old-fashioned, I guess. Much prefer calling it bean bag toss as in my childhood. @elissajaguar