TS Cardshark or Cardsharp?

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Well, which is preferable?

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

I prefer cardsharp.

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

It has the advantage of actually being a word.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

But if someone admits to being a cardshark, don't think "Oh well, that's not even a real word - it must be safe to play cards with them."

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

Right now I'm watching Charles Coburn pretend to be amazed by Henry Fonda doing some of the world's slowest card palming in The Lady Eve.

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

cardsharp is correct. it should not be confused with loan shark. unless you lose.

― to let - flats (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

Card shark. Two words, one phrase, no waiting.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:25 (twenty years ago)

I think card shark is a phrase that's arose simply from a mishearing, and shouldn't be encouraged when there is a perfectly good word already in place.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 5 June 2005 08:43 (twenty years ago)

It should, however, be used when referring to a model shark formed out of thin card.

(you can tell I'm in a smart-arse mood this morning)

― caitlin (caitlin), Sunday, 5 June 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

http://www.topiclink.com/gameshows/images/cardsharksmoneycards.jpg

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

what the hell is "cardsharp"?

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

someone who is sharp at paying cards - i.e. has good judgement and plays intelligently.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

no, a cardsharp is someone who cheats at cards. while cardshark isn't really a word, i like it because it actually conveys treachery. (poor sharks, i know.)

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

ahhh

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

"cardshark" is totally a word, tho! i've never even heard of "cardsharp"! descriptive not prescriptive, dudes!

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

zzzzzzz

― to let - flats (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

haha i'm totally a hypocrite about this, tho, because i can get awfully pedantic abt. grammar.

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:36 (twenty years ago)

i'm just kidding; i totally don't want to get into a grammar argt at 9:38 on a sunday morning!

― to let - flats (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:38 (twenty years ago)

Cardshark is a malapropism that has gained currency and overtaken the original word.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:38 (twenty years ago)

I kinda thought a cardshark was just good, whereas a cardsharp cheated? Descriptive rulez 4 life, do y'all hate nuance?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

(because card shark plays off like loan shark etc?)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

cardshark is a word sure but only because of usage, not like "officially recognized" by dictionaries, but fuck them stuffed shirts.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

Let's start a bonfire with the dictionaries!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

there's still plenty of sticks.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

Cheesy Sharks: An Appreciation Thread

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

Most dictionaries claim to be descriptive anyway these days! We need a better stick man or something. Yesterday poker people informed me that if I tried any "fancy magic stuff" they would break my face, I dunno which this makes me.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

i imagine that the "sharp" in the term "cardsharp" comes from the phrase "sharp practice." "sharp practice," unfortunately, seems to have fallen into disuse.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

xpost - you play magic? that's pretty dorky.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:55 (twenty years ago)

I used to a lot! I am a huge dork. I don't really anymore, they meant tricks stuff, dodgy shuffles etc.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

My dictionary lists "cardsharp" but not "card shark" but does give a definition of "shark" as a kind of cheater or grifter so to be a dictionary stickler use "cardsharp" or "shark" but NOT "cardshark."

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 5 June 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Well really no one says "cardshark", it's "card shark". Just like on the tv show!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 5 June 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Shark, obv. Who says "cardsharp?"

― giboyeux (skowly), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

PEOPLE WHO ARE WRONG

― to let - flats (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

If I were a novelist or a short story writer, when writing in the authorial voice I would use "cardsharp," but when putting dialogue into the mouths of characters or using the technique of "free indirect speech" I might use "card shark," in this way asserting my superiority to them, or perhaps giving them an unrepressed vitality that is often thought lost or inaccessible to the more lettered and better educated.

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

PEOPLE WHO ARE WRONG

i mean right, of course. because i've forgotten how to tell the difference.

― to let - flats (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

JBR, are you playing both sides of the fence? Are you trying to turn this thread into your Red Harvest if not Yojimbo?

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

(xpost)

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

Chris, who was the host of that show, Wink Martindale?

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 6 June 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

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