Is there too much Slang in Poker Today
One of the unique things about the game of poker is that it has its own language. In fact, this language is often complex enough to where the general public can’t even decipher it which makes poker lingo almost exclusively for the players.
Unfortunately, I think that the amount of slang in the game of poker today is getting a little out of hand as everyone is trying to contribute their own little piece to the puzzle. Just recently I made the mistake of reading a whole article about what the term “Hollywooding” means and how it’s used to describe somebody who’s taking too long to make a decision (whatever).
I mean some of the slang is cool and all, but I don’t wanna feel as if it’s a requirement to visit a poker glossary and read it top to bottom just to feel as if I’m in with the cool crowd. One site I visited had an extensive poker glossary with over 500 words and most of it was complete bullshit. Some of the terms seemed as if they were just made up by one of the popular players and everyone else decided to go along with it even though it was so stupid.
This whole poker lingo thing kind of reminds me of that VH1 show “The Pick-Up Artist” where these guys in goofy outfits are shouting out all kinds of terms like I.O.I, S.O.D., kino, etc. like everyone in the audience knows what the hell they’re talking about. All I can say is that I’m glad the announcers on televised poker events don’t get too into the slang or the shows wouldn’t be attracting much of a general audience.