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

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

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

Discussion Forum (Archived)

Please consider registering
Guest
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Min search length: 3 characters / Max search length: 84 characters
The forums are currently locked and only available for read only access
sp_TopicIcon
Thief Finesse
1
2016/02/08 - 2:36pm

A high school teacher in Indianapolis reports her students use the verb finesse to mean "to steal." This is part of a complete episode.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/245941536" params="auto_play=false&show_artwork=false&color=ff7700" width="100%" height="180" iframe="true" /]

Guest
2
2016/02/17 - 3:57pm

I'm surprised that you didn't mention the very common use of this verb and that is to finesse a card trick. I know it from Bridge and Euchre. To finesse a card trick is to play a card that will lead to a loss of one trick but sets up the rest of the play to win further tricks or a trick. An example would be in Euchre where you would play a low trump card in hopes of pulling a high trump card that is not in your hand. In this sense of the word it is "stealing" the other tricks.

Guest
3
2016/02/19 - 4:42pm

I'm reminded of the nello bid in 42 dominoes [see Wikipedia 42 (dominoes)] where you bet that you will catch no tricks and thus win.
I remember doing that successfully only once. I was playing against very experienced players who played 42 as if it were their job.

Forum Timezone: UTC -7
Show Stats
Administrators:
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Moderators:
Grant Barrett
Top Posters:
Newest Members:
A Conversation with Dr Astein Osei
Forum Stats:
Groups: 1
Forums: 1
Topics: 3647
Posts: 18912

 

Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 618
Members: 1268
Moderators: 1
Admins: 2
Most Users Ever Online: 1147
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 27
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)

Recent posts