Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I had never heard fade in the symantic context you mention, but only in the syndication of risk in wagering.

Joey gets passed the dice, and says he wants to roll for $500.  Bill doesn't want to risk that much, but he announces he'd like $200 of the action, and Dave yells, "Yer faded", meaning that he will take the rest of the bet, in this case, $300.

Random House mentions the use in dice, and that context is where I first ran across it (in books and movies, not in person) but later, I saw movies where someone says that $100 his car (or his horse, whartever) was fastest, and someone announces "Yer faded", indicating that the first guy is being allowed to put his money where his mouth is.  In this context, fading has a pejorative context, but nobody feels insulted that something thinks he can't roll his point before crapping out.

So did the gambling syndication meaning of faded lead to the insult, or vice-versa, or is there no apparent connection?  I think that James Mitchener used faded in South Pacific, but I can't think of any reliable citartions earlier than WWII.  I can't figure out how to use ngrams and exclude loss of color due to exposure of light.

It's possible that I read something in "Our Army At War" (or similar) comics in the 1950s, of dogfighters talking aviation battle strategy, because if you end up with a Zero on your tail, you're faded.

Nice show, BTW