 |
| Two-LAY-lip |
pool 2 (p
l)n.1.
a. A game of chance, resembling a lottery, in which the contestants put staked money into a common fund that is later paid to the winner.
b. A fund containing all the money bet in a game of chance or on the outcome of an event.
[French poule, hen, stakes, booty, from Old French, hen, young chicken, from Latin pullus, young of an animal; see pau-1 in Indo-European roots.]
'Either you have won the pools or you have accepted an offer of marriage from a millionaire,' he observed, not bothering with a good morning.
'I don't know any millionaires and I can't afford the pools...'
No Need to Say Goodbye
I guess Americans might use the word pool ('I put my money in the pool.') but I think pools is a bridge too far. In Oregon we've had a state run lottery since 1984 and Indian casinos since 1988. We pass the Spirit Mountain Casino on our way to visit my brother on the coast--we visit him in January every year to see the play his community theater puts on thanks, in part, to the generous patronage of the Grand Ronde Tribe which owns it. But Oregon only has a few.
Betty Debbie, however, lives near a bunch of Indian casinos--the closest is huge and gorgeous (for a casino it is) and it's owned by the Tulalip tribe (Two-LAY-lip). But judging by the drive up I-5, I would guess that Western Washington had dozens of competing Indian tribes.
My only gambling was on my honeymoon with Mijnheer van Voorhees. We spent it in Lake Tahoe and I dropped 75 cents in a slot machine and won a buck fifty (and promptly quit while I was ahead). Raffles are another thing altogether and I've had my share of those...
Yes, there are all kinds of "pools" going all the time around here - my husband has entered them at every job he's had - baseball, basketball, football - betting on point spreads and quarterback passing averages - you name it. They each put in a few bucks and each week someone might win.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was still working the girl in the next cubicle was expecting her first child and in jest, she sent around a list of names for a few of us to vote on, calling it a "Baby Name Poll" I emailed her back and asked if she didn't mean "Pool"? Then the entire office said the words "pool," and "poll," a dozen times before we agreed that Kim just said it incorrectly, leading to her using the wrong word. :)
We don't do the lottery except those few times when someone might give us a ticket in a Christmas card, which happened at my family's Dollar Gift party this immediate past Christmas. My beloved won $4. :)
I will admit to playing the slots when we were in Vegas for Jason's wedding. We were there for 6 days, my husband and I, and together we gambled $40. And that counts the $5 the hotel put on of ours and our other son's Club cards. Except for the free stuff we saw around town, that was the cheapest entertainment going - penny slots. :)
me<><
That reminds me of when I was expecting my third child. I put up a sheet of paper on a door inside our entryway with four columns. Boys names - first and middle, and girls names - first and middle. I think we were offering a half gallon of ice cream as the grand prize (this was in our poor student phase). I quite like the name we ended up with - 'Nathan Hunter' van der Stevejinck.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I can call it a pool - no one else contributed to the 'pool'.
In Montana you don't even have to be an Indian to run a casino. A big thing when Montana kids turn 18 is to go gambling. You can do it anywhere even at the gas station. Needless to say I skipped that rite of passage.
ReplyDeleteBetty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteReporting from Maryland, where we have lotteries galore and horse-racing and have just authorized slots! Woo-hoo! For real casino action Marylanders head to Atlantic City, NJ. No Indian casinos handy.
I think the American for "have you just won the pools?" would be "have you just won the lottery?" (meaning one of the big ones like PowerBall or MegaMillions).
The pool we participated in most often was for the NCAA Basketball tournament.(That was back before Mijnheer van der Tarheelin retired).