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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Calcutta wager

A recent interesting catchword from the Double-Tongued Dictionary is:

Calcutta wager n. a form of gambling on a sporting event involving multiple contestants in which each contestant’s name is auctioned off to observers. At the end of the event, the high bidder for a winning contestant’s name receives a percentage of the total amount taken in by the auction. Also known as the “Calcutta auction” or just a “Calcutta,” this gambling is regulated by American law but has been associated with golf, billiards, and other sports.

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This is the personal weblog of Grant Barrett, editor of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a collection of words from the fringes of English. More about this site...

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