Q&A: The origin of ace, deuce, love | Australian Writers' Centre (2024)

FAQs

Where did ace deuce come from? ›

Where does the noun ace-deuce come from? The earliest known use of the noun ace-deuce is in the 1890s. OED's earliest evidence for ace-deuce is from 1891, in the Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas). ace-deuce is formed within English, by compounding.

1. : a throw of dice of two and one.

This term also goes back to a French origin. At that score a player will need to take two more points in a row to win the game. In French, it was said that it was "à deux de jeu" or "two [points] for the game". Again, over time the French became corrupted leading to the current term: deuce.

As a former tennis ace, she knows how much winning means! Manufacturers said they agreed to the sale because the tennis ace was a good ambassador for their product.

¹. also acey-deucey [ace (one) + deuce (two) = three; in craps throwing three means one 'craps out' and loses all one's money] (US) three, esp. in craps dice; thus the game of craps.

Etymology. The word "ace" (/ˈeɪs/, EYSS) comes from the Old French word as (from Latin 'as') meaning 'a unit', from the name of a small Roman coin. It originally meant the side of a die with only one pip, before it was a term for a playing card.

Note: In expressions such as "a deuce on him," "a deuce take me," current from the 1650's, deuce is clearly a euphemism for "devil." The reason for the choice of deuce rather than another word has inspired several explanations, none entirely satisfactory.

(1) The cards in poker are ranked ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, deuce. The ace is the highest ranked card in high poker and is ranked lower than a deuce in low poker.

Deuce is a slang term used for a drunk driving violation. The term originated in California. It was a standard answer given by drunk drivers as to how many beers they had consumed. For more information on the legal ramifications of drunk driving, see driving under the influence here.

Assuming you mean “deuce”, this is a “minced oath” which replaced the word “devil” when historically it was too strong to say and needed weakening, but also needed recognisability. This is much like “dang” or “darn” for “damn” or the more contemporary “effing” for “f! cking”.

What does ace call deuce? ›

Ace often gives names to Deuce, such as Mr. Serious or Juice.

It comes from the French word deux de jeux, meaning two games (or points in this case). In the 18th century, deuce could also mean bad luck or the devil. It's not the best of luck to go to deuce and lose on your service game, but it's hardly the work of the devil.

"Ace" is a way of winning a point in tennis. "Matteo" is tennis player Matteo Berrettini.

WHAT IS A DEUCE? The only time this is different is when both you and your opponent have won three points each and the score is 40-40. This is called deuce. When the score reaches deuce, one player or team will need to win at least two points in a row to win the game.

Sometime after Ace left Dawn Island to pursue his path as a pirate, he become shipwrecked on Sixis, a beautiful desert island. There, he met a man who became his friend, who he dubbed "Masked Deuce". After a few days and a discussion about Ace's lineage, Ace found a large fruit which he split with Deuce.

It comes from the French word deux de jeux, meaning two games (or points in this case). In the 18th century, deuce could also mean bad luck or the devil. It's not the best of luck to go to deuce and lose on your service game, but it's hardly the work of the devil.

This corresponds to the French word for "two", deux, which in turn came from the Latin duos and duo. On the introduction of playing cards into the German language area at the end of the 14th century, the word was also transferred to the cards with the value 2.

The terms “ace, deuce, trey, cater, cinque and sice” are obsolete, but they are still used to call the numbers on the different sides of a dice by some professional gamblers (So I heard).