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Not only are card games very popular, but they have also contributed many idioms to the English language. House of cards: an organisation or a plan that is very weak and can easily be destroyed. The company went down like a house of cards after the death of its owner. (If you) play your cards right: if you behave in the right way, you might succeed at something. If you play your cards right, you can get a promotion. Keep/play your cards close to your chest: not tell anyone what you plan to do. You can never tell what she is planning to do. She keeps her cards close to her chest. Lay/put your cards on the table: tell someone honestly what you think or plan to do. I think it is time I put my cards on the table and tell my boss that I am thinking of quitting my job. Have/hold all the cards: be in a stronger and more advantageous position when you are competing with someone else. I don’t think he will win the race to the chairman’s post because his rival holds all the cards. Pass the buck: blame someone or make them responsible for something that must be done next. The residents of my locality refuse to accept responsibility for the garbage on the streets, they just pass the buck to the municipal corporation. Follow suit: do the same as everyone else as just done. If one kindergarten student starts crying in class, others follow suit. Call someone’s bluff: make someone prove that what they are saying is true, or that they will really do what they say they will, because you do not believe them. I knew he was just bragging when he told me that he had learnt to swim, so one day I decided to call his bluff and dared him to swim in the nearby river. Trump card: an advantage that makes you more likely to succeed than other people. The fact that I knew French turned out to be my trump card when I applied for a job in a French company. Come up trumps: complete an activity successfully or produce a good result, especially when you were not expected to. In spite of a slow start he came up trumps and beat the defending champion. (Reference: Cambridge
International Dictionary of Idioms) |
