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College football season is over, my Michigan Wolverines have won the national championship and now college football will be no more until this coming September.
I need distractions from reading and linking so much of the news of the world.
Not that there isn’t recent interesting news in the college football offseason. I suppose that I can always follow the NFL’s Detroit Lions since they appear to have a pretty god team for the first time in a this millennium. But, I mean that’s a small distraction.
I do love playing bridge every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon and that does serve as a major distraction but only for a couple of hours. This past Tuesday , I actually learned something. (Which reminds me: I know that at least one of our regular Top Comments denizens is a bridge player...been meaning to do a TC on bridge)
“Did you know that the king of hearts is the only king in the deck of cards that doesn’t have a mustache,” my bridge buddy K. asked.
I didn’t know that. Checked three different deck of cards, all different brands and...sure enough...no mustache on the king of hearts.
So… to the GoogleBoomTube I went to find the answer. Knowing damn well that I am going down a rabbit hole.
The answer to my original question is relatively simple.
If you take a look at the king of hearts of playing cards, you may notice that he is quite unique. He is the only one without a moustache. In 15th century French manufacturers assigned actual historical figures to each of the king card. King of hearts became Charles the Great, who most likely had moustache. In fact, the drawing had moustache too at first – they disappeared over time due to manufacturing imperfections.
At that time playing cards were stamped using wooden stamps. They were carved by hand, copying the previous design. Over time these wooden blocks would be worn down, making the drawing less and less vivid. When copying these cards, manufacturers started skipping the moustache, because it wasn’t visible anymore. This is also the reason why king of hearts looks like he is stabbing himself in the head. Originally he had an axe, but at some point the axe head disappeared and the handle turned into a dagger, which kind of looks like he is killing himself!
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole because each of the 4 kings in a deck of cards represents a real king of history, supposedly
In the 16th century the figures on the cards produced by the artisans of the French city of Rouen depict.
The Kings were:
- King of Spades: David, second king of Israel
- King of Hearts: Charlemagne, king of the Franks and Lombards and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
- King of Diamonds: Julius Caesar, dictator, considered by some historians the first Roman emperor, though not formally
- King of Clubs: Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia.
There are hundreds of theories behind the origin of the designs of playing cards. And since all of the face cards, ultimately, originated in the tarot card deck (and remain there in some form)...I mean, I didn’t need all of that, knowing how I am with this type of trivia.
Well...I wanted a distraction...I should be careful what I wish for is the lesson in all of this?
Comments below the fold.
TOP COMMENTS
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From Tara the Antisocial Social Worker:
After the 3 recent Moms for Liberty scandals (3-ways, drunken assault, and shoplifting), Stevoreno suggests a new name for the group. From Walter Einenkel’s front page diary about the “Mom for Liberty” who got caught shoplifting.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, Thursday, January 11, 2024, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
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