What is this phrase "Pass the Sugar"?
May 30, 2006 8:22 AM Subscribe
QuoteFilter: what's the origin of the phrase "pass the sugar"? Aussies, anyone, help me out here!
The 2005 World Series of Poker champ Joe Hachem uttered the phrase, "pass the sugar" after a particularily good winning hand, and I can't find anything online about the origin of the phrase - other than something mentioning a Betty Boop film called "Pass the Sugar". Googlefu just seems to result in people either complaining about the phrase ("that is teh gay poker phrase!!!") or folks like me trying to find out more about it. Is it an Aussie phrase? Something he just made up? If this helps, Hachem is a Lebanese immigrant to Australia - although it sounds more like a British-ism than anything. At this point, I don't care where the answer comes from - it's just one of those, "gotta find the origins" things. Please help put me out of my misery...
The 2005 World Series of Poker champ Joe Hachem uttered the phrase, "pass the sugar" after a particularily good winning hand, and I can't find anything online about the origin of the phrase - other than something mentioning a Betty Boop film called "Pass the Sugar". Googlefu just seems to result in people either complaining about the phrase ("that is teh gay poker phrase!!!") or folks like me trying to find out more about it. Is it an Aussie phrase? Something he just made up? If this helps, Hachem is a Lebanese immigrant to Australia - although it sounds more like a British-ism than anything. At this point, I don't care where the answer comes from - it's just one of those, "gotta find the origins" things. Please help put me out of my misery...
Well, maybe ewagoner's information rules this out, but I just asked my wife about this and she tells me that "Pass the sugar!" is something that a Lebanese man would say loudly to a friend within earshot of a pretty girl. Kind of like a wolf whistle.
posted by teleskiving at 8:54 AM on May 30, 2006
posted by teleskiving at 8:54 AM on May 30, 2006
IANAPP...
Man with a cup of coffee: "Pass the sugar."
Other man: "Here ya go."
Man with a cup of coffee: "...Sweet!"
His cards are sweet. They were dealt (passed) to him. What?
posted by Methylviolet at 8:57 AM on May 30, 2006
Man with a cup of coffee: "Pass the sugar."
Other man: "Here ya go."
Man with a cup of coffee: "...Sweet!"
His cards are sweet. They were dealt (passed) to him. What?
posted by Methylviolet at 8:57 AM on May 30, 2006
I couldn't find anything more, but it turns out Steve Hegyi is also Australian, so I'm betting it's a regionalism.
posted by ewagoner at 8:58 AM on May 30, 2006
posted by ewagoner at 8:58 AM on May 30, 2006
Best answer: None of my slang, Australian, or New Zealand dictionaries have it. The earliest use I've been able to find (without looking exhaustively) is from 2001:
2001 rec.gambling.poker (May 19) : In Australia we say short speeches and pass the sugar when you win a hand.
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:08 AM on May 30, 2006
2001 rec.gambling.poker (May 19) : In Australia we say short speeches and pass the sugar when you win a hand.
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:08 AM on May 30, 2006
(Of course, the 2000 cite above is earlier than the one I posted.)
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:09 AM on May 30, 2006
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:09 AM on May 30, 2006
Best answer: I second occhiblu's suggestion. The money at stake in a given hand is the "pot," when you add money to it you "sweeten the pot," so the money in the pot is sugar. When you win the hand, you want the sugar you've earned, so you say "pass the sugar."
The use of the phrase by Steve Hegyi in the first response indicates that he flipped over his hand and immediately said to the dealer "pass the sugar," before anyone could even verify that he had won. It's like a boast: you flip over your hand and say "I'll take my money now."
posted by AgentRocket at 10:34 AM on May 30, 2006
The use of the phrase by Steve Hegyi in the first response indicates that he flipped over his hand and immediately said to the dealer "pass the sugar," before anyone could even verify that he had won. It's like a boast: you flip over your hand and say "I'll take my money now."
posted by AgentRocket at 10:34 AM on May 30, 2006
"Sugar" is one of the hundreds of slang terms for "money". It's long since passed out of general usage in the US, but it could still be in use elsewhere in the English-speaking world.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:37 AM on May 30, 2006
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:37 AM on May 30, 2006
Now the cool kids say "cake." Pocket full of cake, Got so much cake, I can drop a few crumbs, etc.
posted by zpousman at 2:20 PM on May 30, 2006
posted by zpousman at 2:20 PM on May 30, 2006
Not a part of general Australian slang, to my knowledge. Well, not Sydney, anyway.
The only thing it brings to mind was a famous incident in which a young traffic-fine defaulter opted to spend a few days in prison as an alternative to paying the fines. He was beaten into a pulp & suffered permanent brain damage apparently because he answered strangely to a huge inmate asking if he wanted any sugar. This was apparently prison slang for sex. But I doubt poker players are too interested in sodomising young inmates during a game.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:22 PM on May 30, 2006
The only thing it brings to mind was a famous incident in which a young traffic-fine defaulter opted to spend a few days in prison as an alternative to paying the fines. He was beaten into a pulp & suffered permanent brain damage apparently because he answered strangely to a huge inmate asking if he wanted any sugar. This was apparently prison slang for sex. But I doubt poker players are too interested in sodomising young inmates during a game.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:22 PM on May 30, 2006
Anot data point. I'm not a poker player and have never heard it in Oz as anything other than literal question.
posted by bystander at 10:30 PM on May 30, 2006
posted by bystander at 10:30 PM on May 30, 2006
Not in NZ either.
posted by The Monkey at 11:15 PM on May 30, 2006
posted by The Monkey at 11:15 PM on May 30, 2006
Response by poster: thanks for the help folks... I appreciate it! I think teleskiving is one of the most *creative* explanations I've heard yet.
thank you metafites - you never, never fail me...
posted by rmm at 11:26 AM on May 31, 2006
thank you metafites - you never, never fail me...
posted by rmm at 11:26 AM on May 31, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ewagoner at 8:42 AM on May 30, 2006