Odd book

Chris Zach cz at alembic.crystel.com
Fri May 8 06:15:53 CDT 2020


"Trimmed" is a term meaning "scammed" back in the 1920's usually by a 
confidence man. The goal of a confidence game was typically to "trim a 
mark" for example.

In this context the author was probably saying that not only did they 
get beaten, they got beaten bad in what appeared to be a "rigged game".

I highly recommend the book "The Big Con" by David Maurer. Written in 
the mid to late 1930's it's a fascinating and informative look into the 
language, argot, and methods of the classic confidence man. A skill that 
seems to be coming back into vogue these days....

C

On 5/8/2020 4:11 AM, Ali via cctalk wrote:
>> Consider the possibility that the writer took "did not lose 5 times in
>> a
>> row", and wrote that as "WON 5 times in a row".
> 
> Not following Fred. The writer wrote: "We got trimmed in five straight
> games, and the vice-president in charge of marketing seemed very much
> pleased." The slang is a bit before my time but I read this as the human
> player lost five times in a row to the computer. Am I reading it wrong or am
> I missing something?
> 
> -Ali
> 


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