Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> Can you spell “Yakuza”? I can’t, but my spell-checker helps J > やくざnowadays, but supposedly it comes from 八九三 which are the numbers 8, 9 and 3. (That would be yatsu, ku, san but it could ya-ku-zan or za in card-shark lingo, as 2 in English is "deuce.") Apparently there was a card game similar to blackjack, only the object was get 19. If you were dealt an 8, a 9 and then a 3 that's 20 and you were wiped out. So it means a bad hand, or useless, or garbage. It is probably a folk etymology but the sentiments are real enough. - Jed
