We need a new word for "gambling"

[dfan]

Actually the Google definition answered the question of why poker is called gambling and investing in stocks isn't.

We use the term gambling for making a wager on a GAME or CONTEST, not because it has a chance element in it. Think about it, buying homeowners or car insurance has an element of chance to the monetary outcome but it isn't called gambling.

Maybe what we aren't recognizing is that gambling has a shady reputation NOT JUST BECAUSE IT CAN BE -EV, although that is part of it. I can think of at least three reasons why gambling as defined above can be viewed negatively- 1. (-EV argument) most "gamblers" lose money in the long run, some even disasterously so,
2. gamblers spend their time playing a game or betting on a contest that has no intrinsic value except their own amusement.
3. It is a zero sum game where for every winner there is a loser.

By contrast the stock market is a "gamble", but generally we don't call buying stocks gambling because it involves more than betting on a game -- In this case, you are giving money to a company which (hopefully) will put that money into growing the company, making more products, providing jobs, etc., and you make some money in the process.

When you play poker, no products are being produced, and until the 2003 WSOP, very little public entertainment was produced either.

I admit that I have mixed feelings about spending so much time doing something that is mainly mental puzzle solving but which really probably won't make the world an iota better off.

Unless of course I win the PP Million and donate a bunch to charity. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Orpheus]

Ich bin erschrockt -erschrockt!- dass es gibt kerfilozlinkiting in diesem Haus!

Hmm... it lacks a certain je ne sais quois. To really sound German it would have to be something like Werterwarteterspielen ("Wert-erwarteter-spielen" or "expected value playing"] -- but I suppose the charm of that neologism depends on your appreciation of really strained multilingual puns and other forms of organic brain damage.

Fahigkeitubergluckspielen?
Rentabelselbsttäuschung?
Abweichungspiel?
Selbstmordreiztspielen?
Stattstudierenarbeit? (or maybe Universitätsbiersyndrom?]

Sorry. I guess I'm just not in a properly German state of mind [Richtigerdeutschergeisteszustand?] What was it Goethe said? "Die Wahrheit liegt im Wein..."

In the meantime, I think there'd be something intriguingly ambiguous about a self-styled "expectation player" [as opposed to an "expectoration player", which would be something entirely different].

Suddenly, all those years in medical school are looking like a smart choice again.

[magiluke]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually the Google definition answered the question of why poker is called gambling and investing in stocks isn't.

We use the term gambling for making a wager on a GAME or CONTEST, not because it has a chance element in it. Think about it, buying homeowners or car insurance has an element of chance to the monetary outcome but it isn't called gambling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here, I'll put the part that disagrees with that all by itself in a quote box:

[ QUOTE ]
Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving the risk of money or valuables on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity is partially or totally dependent upon chance or on one's ability to do something.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyway, when you invest in stocks, you are taking a gamble. I bought into a mutual fund that lost a couple hundred dollars almost right away; it still hasn't grown back up to what I started with. I took a risk with my money hoping that outcome of this activity that is partially dependent on chance would make me some money.

Say you get yourself some car insurance, lets say you get yourself minimum coverage. If your car gets stolen, you get nothing. In most accidents, you will get nothing. Pretty much, minimum coverage give you nothing in most cases. Right there, you are taking a gamble with your car. Just because a word is generally associated with certain activities, doesn't mean that it can't be applied to others.

Let's try some sentences:

<ul type="square">[*]"Wait," he ejaculated, "I forgot my wallet!"[*]I feel molested by his presence.[/list]
Ok, that sounded kind of sarcastic when I read it, but it's the truth.

[ QUOTE ]
Ich bin erschrockt -erschrockt!- dass es gibt kerfilozlinkiting in diesem Haus!

[/ QUOTE ]

"Erschrokt"? Meinen sie erschreckt, oder vieleicht geschockt?

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm... it lacks a certain je ne sais quois. To really sound German it would have to be something like Werterwarteterspielen ("Wert-erwarteter-spielen" or "expected value playing"] -- but I suppose the charm of that neologism depends on your appreciation of really strained multilingual puns and other forms of organic brain damage.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I would suggest something like "filtzverarbeitung" (working over the felt). Advantage play would probably be "vorteilsspiel." Maybe something like geldueberlegungsspielerwertungsarbeit, of course, something like that is hard to read.

[stripsqueez]

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Poker is also betting on random events (the outcome of the cards)

[/ QUOTE ]

spectacularly wrong

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Poker is both a game of gambling (read: luck) AND a game of skill.

[/ QUOTE ]

also wrong

poker is a game of skill

gambling used to mean the playing of games of chance which obviously means poker wasnt gambling - as often happens the meaning of the word has changed over time - by popular definition it now means wagering on the outcome of an event

if your having trouble explaining it to your girlfriend i reccomend buying her something expensive and telling her you won the money to pay for it playing poker

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[GreywolfNYC]

It's gambling, period. If you think it's something other than that you shouldn't be playing it.

[mudbuddha]

yes. personal investment manager who specializes in **risk management...**

[Jimbo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Poker is also betting on random events (the outcome of the cards)

[/ QUOTE ]

spectacularly wrong

[ QUOTE ]
Poker is both a game of gambling (read: luck) AND a game of skill.

[/ QUOTE ]

also wrong

poker is a game of skill

gambling used to mean the playing of games of chance which obviously means poker wasnt gambling - as often happens the meaning of the word has changed over time - by popular definition it now means wagering on the outcome of an event

if your having trouble explaining it to your girlfriend i reccomend buying her something expensive and telling her you won the money to pay for it playing poker

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[/ QUOTE ]

What bull. If I recall correctly you also have some whacky definition of luck as well. You really need to buy a dictionary.

[stripsqueez]

[ QUOTE ]
What bull

[/ QUOTE ]

which bit ?

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[Big_Jim]

[ QUOTE ]
betting on completely random events (coin flips, a ball landing on 8 black).

[/ QUOTE ]

Or cards being laid out on the table.