But would you call muggins on a child?

[pbray]

Signs you're in a diner in rural New Hampshire-- the daily special is "boiled dinner" with no elaboration required, and under the counter you spy a cribbage board and deck of cards for the slow times.

For those unfamiliar with the game of cribbage, one of the quirks is that if your opponent fails to correctly count up all the points in his hand, once he has moved his scoring pegs, you can then announce the missed points and claim them for yourself. This is called muggins. My mother was famous for calling muggins on her own children-- once we were old enough to play the game, we were old enough to play it cut-throat style.

Comments

[jemck.livejournal.com]

We play cribbage as a family on holidays. As taught to Husband when he was a fresh-faced apprentice engineer in 1974 by the grizzled seniors in the drawing office of the Cowley Motor Works, Oxford.

So our lads know the origins of the expressions 'level pegging' and 'pegging out' - are those used in the US?

Also, when they were first introduced to 'One for his Nob', Junior Son laughed so hard he fell off his chair because he heard 'One for his Knob'. He was about six and couldn't believe his Mum had said something Rude!

For the uninitiated, this is a bonus point if you turn up a Jack/Knave when designating the scoring card by cutting the pack. 'Nob' being old-fashioned colloquial English for nobility, posh person etc.

But 'muggins' as a term specifically used in cribbage is a new one to us. How interesting.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Cribbage was popular with New England Yankees. My dad's family all played (he was the one to teach my mom). There are winter cribbage leagues in this part of New Hampshire, and if you grew up in the area, it's assumed that you have some basic familiarity with the game. Local woodcarvers make gorgeous cribbage board sets which you'll find in craftstores and at art shows.

And yeah, as kids we loved the double entendre of announcing "One for his Nob".

Muggins appears to be a regional term, according to Google. You also should agree before the game starts if you're using that rule. With my friends I generally don't use the rule-- but with family, yes.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Boiled dinner = corned beef?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

In this case yes. Though I've seen it done elsewhere with ham or beef brisket.

[lagilman]

The way family Scrabble games went when I was a kid, I have no trouble seeing either of my parents calling muggins...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Teaching you about survival of the fittest, a valuable lesson for any child.