• casino •
Pronunciation: kê-see-no • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A luxurious entertainment establishment, usually offering gambling. 2. A card game for two to four players in which the 10 of diamonds is the card with the highest value. (cassino).
Notes: Today's Good Word is a variant of casa found in the names of pizza parlors all over the US and the Spanish aphorism, mi casa, su casa "my house (is) your house". The plural is formed with just an S, not ES: casinos.
In Play: Casino began its life referring to an Italian cottage but today it is associated with large, luxurious, even gaudy gambling palaces: "Not only has Portia Radclyffe decorated her house like a casino, you gamble with your life if you dine there." Portia obviously needs to hire a new chef. Casinos are closely associated with money: "Jack Potts lost his heart to a blackjack dealer in a Las Vegas casino as well as most of his money."
Word History: Today's Good Word is the diminutive of the Italian (and Spanish) word casa "house", inherited from Latin. By the 16th century it meant "summerhouse" in Italian. In the 18th century it referred to a club or dance club and was used throughout England and Europe. As these clubs added gambling, it acquired its current meaning and by the mid 19th century it was so used in all European languages. The Italians then borrowed the word back from French with the new meaning, keeping the French accentuation [kah-see-no]. The meaning of the original Italian word then shifted to "bordello" which later softened to just "mess" and "racket". Che casino hai fatto! today means "What a mess you've made!" in Italian. (We hope we haven't made a mess of Sterling Bebout's suggestion of today's Good Word so he will send us more.)
CASINO
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Dr. Goodword
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CASINO
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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Brazilian dude
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Stargzer
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Monte Cassino was the site of four battles during WWII that lasted from January through May of 1944.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
They say you can't go home again. It remains to be seen whether Bond, James Bond can go to the casino again...
-gailr
-gailr
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Stargzer
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At least this time little Jimmy Bond won't be releasing Bacillus X, so I'm safe for a while. 
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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