Calcutta wager
n.—Gloss: a form of gambling on a sporting event involving multiple contestants in which each contestant’s name is auctioned off to observers. At the end of the event, the high bidder for a winning contestant’s name receives a percentage of the total amount taken in by the auction. Note: Also known as the “Calcutta auction” or just a “Calcutta,” this gambling is regulated by American law but has been associated with golf, billiards, and other sports. «This is not for fishing, mind you, but for guessing which of the actual anglers in the competitions will place highest, and in what order. It is suspiciously like what is known as the “Calcutta” wager in saltwater fishing tournaments, except for one important difference, which makes Fantasy Fishing legal, while Calcutta’s are not; there is no entry fee and no bet is required.» —“What’s Next? Fantasy Fishing Will Reel You In” by Frank Sargeant TBO.com (Tampa Bay, Florida) Dec. 19, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
How do you transform ancient Chinese script for use in the modern age? English uses a keyboard with just 26 letters, but the first Chinese typewriter looked like a small table under a huge disk with more than 4,000 characters. A new book chronicles...
Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne’s love poems are among the greatest in the English language, even as they’re famously...