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games with a nickel for stakes

English translation: games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:games with a nickel for stakes
Selected answer:games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)
Entered by: Michael Powers (PhD)

23:11 Nov 17, 2007
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - History
English term or phrase: games with a nickel for stakes
from the 1936 book "Live Alone and Like It", about the bright sides of being a single lady, even without having any significant amount of money.
"With a reasonable amount of ingenuity, you can have a marvelous time on practically nothing. .. There is no limit to the things you can do inexpensively in New York, if you're sufficiently up and doing. Have you, for instance, ever been [...] to a Yiddish theater on the lower East Side? Have you ever been to the Flea Circus, or played games with a nickel for stakes on Broadway (Have an escort for the last one.)"
Any idea what games or what stakes this could mean please?
pidzej
Poland
Local time: 15:41
games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)
Explanation:
meaning of "stakes"

5. Sports & Games
a. Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at bet.

Mike :)
Selected response from:

Michael Powers (PhD)
United States
Local time: 09:41
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +11games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)
Michael Powers (PhD)
4gambled with (as little as) a nickel
Mark Berelekhis


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +11
games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)


Explanation:
meaning of "stakes"

5. Sports & Games
a. Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at bet.

Mike :)

Michael Powers (PhD)
United States
Local time: 09:41
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: wouldn't call it playing games, today, maybe meaning changes since 1936? Besides, why Broadway - was it a gambler's mecca then or something?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mark Berelekhis
0 min
  -> Thank you, Mark - I have no idea about Broadway - Mike :)
agree  anne wagner-findeisen: AGREE. She could be referring to what used to be a standard sight, card games on the sidewalk, which were inevitably rigged against the player, for example 3 CARD MONTE is such a game, until Mayor Giuliani cleaned up Times Square
1 hr
  -> Thank you, afindei675 - interesting - I didn't know the history, since I grew up in the midwest (Indiana) and now live in the southeast (Florida) - Mike :)
agree  Sophia Finos (X)
3 hrs
  -> Thank you, Sophia - Mike :)
agree  Patricia Townshend (X)
5 hrs
  -> Thank you, Patricia - Mike :)
agree  Terry Burgess: Plausible...and worth a nickel...though I'll not go above 2 bits.
5 hrs
  -> Last of the big time spenders, huh, Terry? - Mike :)
agree  orientalhorizon
6 hrs
  -> Thank you, orientalhorizon - Mike :)
agree  Amira El-Wattar
8 hrs
  -> Thank you, Amira - Mike :)
agree  V_Nedkov
12 hrs
  -> Thank you, V. - Mike :)
agree  Christopher Crockett: The Broadway reference puts me in mind me of the great short stories of Damon Runyan,who chronicled the lives of the petty criminals and gamblers who inhabited the area in the '20s & '30s. Runyan makes delightful reading; Highly recommended. Google him.
1 day 14 hrs
  -> Very interesting comment, Cristopher - you certainly know more about that epoch than I do - Mike :)
agree  ARTES
12 days
  -> Thank you, ARTES -Mike :)
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
14 days
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
gambled with (as little as) a nickel


Explanation:
-

Mark Berelekhis
United States
Local time: 09:41
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
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