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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I dunno, Dubdub--I don't think it necessarily had to have been a religious writer. I'll try to do some checking and get back to you at the end of the day.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
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Súil le cúiteamh a mhilleas an cearrbhach.
Hope to recoup is what ruins the card player (gambler).
From The Poker Encyclopedia:
"All veteran and professional poker players know that peculiar tug of desperate greed which lures the luckless deeper into the trenches of loss. It's when this sense of futility sets in that the chemistry of luck loses its winning edge completely, and further play can only result in more dire losses and the sure extermination of one's bankroll. This point of no return is captured in the old proverb, 'Hope to recoup is what ruins the card player,' from the Mhilleas Cearrbhach novel, Hope to Recoup. Happy are the veteran players who find a novice at their table who does not know when he has reached this precipice of loss."
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Your post reminded me of Bob Dylan. I wonder if that is relevant? Was the novel written at around the same time?
http://www.bobdylan.com/albums/infidels.html
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Jackie,
The reason I think the quote might be one of a mystic or some kind of religious writer is because the quote always appears in the bar sections of the story where Cearrbhach consistently visualizes the bartenders as priests. At one point in one bar scene Cearrbhach has two minah birds each chant one part of the leit motif:
Minah #1: Chicanery girds..
Minah #2: Robes! Infidels!
Everyone sitting around the anti-hero lifts the tankards on cue and guzzles them outright everytime the second minah says, "Infidels!".
The book was published in 1928, was only moderately well-received, but was published again in 1989. I think it's interesting because of the subplot that deals with quantum physics, perhaps the first novel to take a close look at a science that cannot be easily understood by gamblers.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Your post reminded me of Bob Dylan. I wonder if that is relevant? Was the novel written at around the same time?No, based on your link, jmh, http://www.bobdylan.com/albums/infidels.htmlDylan's Infidels was written in 1983. Of course, the fact that many poker addicts are also prone to infidelity is well known. So your suspicion of a connection there is understandable.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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the subplot that deals with quantum physics... a science that cannot be easily understood by gamblers.
as opposed to metaphysics. you've got to know when to hold 'em, you've got to know when to fold 'em
holy $#!+, Hope to recoup is what ruins the card player is the epigram of Tim Powers' _Last Call_!
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Two AWADers sent me two contrary responses to the true authorship of Cearrbhach's quoted "Chicanery girds the robes of infidels." One declares that Hank E. Panky is the author and the other says it's a well-known observation of Póg Mo Thón. Since Póg Mo Thón coincidentally (or not) was the owner of Déanaim Neamhshuim Pty Ltd way back in 1928 when Hope to Recoup was first published, I'll put my money on Póg Mo Thón as the originator of the quote. So, Jackie, you were correct. Póg Mo Thón wasn't a mystic at all. And if you believe any of the above balderdash, poppycock and malarkey, consider the date of these posts. P.S. Thanks to sjm, milum, Ted, Cap, Jackie, Whit', jmh and tsuwm for adding to the fun of the day. 
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