A listener named Mark now lives in San Diego, California, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. There, he recalls, when he and his friends played sandlot baseball, cards, or board games, if an opponent tried to get around the rules and then got called out, he and his buddies would declare Cheater’s proof! This expression has strong associations with Chicago and other parts of Illinois, and occasionally pops up in nearby states. Mark hadn’t thought about the phrase for 50 years, but a World Cup red-card controversy had him texting his buddy Mike in Indianapolis, who immediately thought the same thing: cheater’s proof. In basketball, a similar idea is expressed by ball don’t lie, and the opposite, when a cheater still comes out ahead, might be liar’s luck. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “What “Cheater’s Proof” Means: A Chicago Phrase for Calling Out a Cheater”
Hello.
You have A Way with Words.
Hi.
This is Mark calling from San Diego.
Hello, Mark.
How are doing?
Welcome to the show.
What’s up?
I had a phrase that…
Or a term that I had from my childhood that we used to use all the time, And the phrase or the term was cheater’s proof.
And the way we used it was the kids in Chicago back in the day, we didn’t have any diversions other than to play with each other.
So we had groups of kids that would just…
We depped games, all kinds of sports games and stuff.
And we had to make up our own rules because we had no adults supervising as we were out doing things.
So, anyway, if somebody was to try to get around the rules and ultimately was called out or lost or something, everybody would just immediately say cheater’s proof, and that was, the end of it.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the apostrophe could be on either side of the s as far as I can remember.
I mean, so there could be groups of people.
So cheaters, let me spell this.
CHEATER, apostrophe S, proof, PROOF.
Cheaters proof.
Right.
Gotcha.
Mark, I…
I’m wondering.
This is like playing, like, sandlot baseball?
Or or It could be it could be sandlot baseball.
It could be card games.
It could be board games.
It was just stuff that when…
In the absence of any adult supervision, the kids had to kinda come up with their own, you know, rules and things.
So…
And people…
And and you couldn’t argue it, so you just had to play it out, whatever it was.
Okay.
Let’s keep going, and then we’ll see what happens.
Got it.
Got it.
So so, like, if somebody bends the rules or breaks the rules, if a batter says that a pitch wasn’t a strike, then you agreed to a do over, and then the pitcher throws the ball again, and the batter swings and misses.
Then everybody says cheater’s proof.
Is that how it went?
That’s how it went.
I hadn’t thought about it for at least fifty years until this summer when…
During the World Cup.
And I don’t know if you follow World Cup at all, but the Yeah.
The US team player got a red card in one of the semifinals or quarterfinals, and that, of course, meant that he couldn’t play the next game.
Right.
And I don’t wanna get political, but there was an intercession done.
And all of a sudden, it was decided that this player was now eligible to play the game.
Right.
So, of course, The US went on to lose.
And, immediately, I texted my buddy, Mike, in Indianapolis, and I said, Mike, this is a classic example of cheater’s proof.
And he texted me back same way.
And the people I was watching the game with said, never heard that phrase.
So I said, well, I’ll just Google it for you.
So said we go…
I can’t come up with nothing.
They were all Sandiagons, though.
Since you’re from Chicago, you had Yeah.
They…
Yeah.
They were.
They were.
And I think maybe it just took a they’ll cover wagon.
Took a long time to get out here, maybe.
I don’t know.
I think it was the boat all the way around the southern tip of Southern…
Southern America.
Yeah.
This is so interesting because it does have really strong associations with the Chicago area.
I once saw an obituary for a Chicago area man who played on a softball team called Cheaters.
Oh, yeah.
You’ll find it in other parts of Illinois, so Chicago area, but also occasionally pops up in nearby states like Iowa.
Yeah.
And I’ve seen it in basketball a lot, Martha.
I’ve seen it Oh, yeah.
Where somebody gets to shoot a free throw because of supposed foul that not everyone agrees that they made.
And if they miss the free throw, people are like, cheater’s proof.
It it…
It’s it’s this idea that the universe will bring justice.
Yes.
And you’ll be outed as a cheater by the way things not going your way.
Right.
Exactly.
They don’t have a phrase for the other way that the cheater actually gets off gets off.
Maybe it was, like, liar’s luck.
You know?
Liar’s luck.
Yeah.
That’s the other side of it.
Yeah.
That would be the other side of it.
Where where you cheated, but you still you still come out ahead.
Mark, since you sound like a sports guy, let me ask you.
Another thing that they say in basketball instead of cheetah’s proof is ball don’t lie.
Have you heard that one?
Yeah.
Well, my buddy, Mike in Indianapolis, Kate me, said that that’s what his people that he talks to all the time is they hear that ball don’t lie.
Ball don’t lie.
You know, it’s the same idea, this idea that cheaters never prosper or the longer farm cheaters never win and winners never cheat.
Love it.
It’s a little it’s a little more street than it’s a little more street than what we would we would have said.
Yeah.
The cheers fruit.
Yeah.
Gotcha.
Well, Mark, we appreciate your time spending some time with us, and thank you so much for a really interesting question.
Love it.
Yeah.
Call us again sometime.
Alright?
Alright.
Thank you very much.
Alright.
You’d be well.
Bye bye.
Bye Mark.
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