This surprised me when I was younger. Heart, diamond, spade, and club seemed so foreign to me. For the record, in Spain we call them copas (cups), oros (coins (literally golds)), bastos (clubs), and espadas (swords).
Also, the pictures used in the map are not the most commonly used ones here. this (top row) is what most cards use
Funny enough, in Portuguese, the names for the sets are dirty direct translations of the Spanish versions, but applied to the French icons. It didn’t make much sense to me calling a losange “golds”, or a heart “cups”, a leaf “swords”, and a clover leaf “sticks”.
Somehow this is the first time I’ve realized the symbols don’t match their names at all. Not really sure what’s dirty about them but it’s actually pretty handy to have all suits be called the same names in French and Spanish suits since both are widely used around here in Southern Brazil.
Not the previous poster but I think the “dirty translation” is because in Portugal some things weren’t translated at all (we use the actual word “copas” even though it’s not a Portuguese word) and others are translated differently (were the Spanish use “bastos” - clubs - we use “paus” - sticks).
The French symbols are either pure black or pure red, they’re symmetrical, and they’re fairly abstract. The “diamond” is just a rhombus. The Spade and Club are fairly abstract shapes that don’t look like anything in particular.
In the image, all the other versions are multicolored, and still seem to represent real-world objects. But, I’m curious if there are “modern” decks where say the coin (oro) is just a circle, or the club is just a long thin rectangle, or something.
I don’t think so. The other variants of the Spanish-inspired cards are clearly staves. Besides, basto is very, very close to bastón, the word for a staff like a walking stick. Gherkins are called pepinillos
Not sure if it is the same as Mexico, but the “oros bastos” set doesn’t have cards 8,9,10 but jump from 7 to sota (fancy lad or something like that), caballo (horse) and Rey (king).
This surprised me when I was younger. Heart, diamond, spade, and club seemed so foreign to me. For the record, in Spain we call them copas (cups), oros (coins (literally golds)), bastos (clubs), and espadas (swords).
Also, the pictures used in the map are not the most commonly used ones here. this (top row) is what most cards use
Funny enough, in Portuguese, the names for the sets are
dirtydirect translations of the Spanish versions, but applied to the French icons. It didn’t make much sense to me calling a losange “golds”, or a heart “cups”, a leaf “swords”, and a clover leaf “sticks”.Edit: autocorrupt
Somehow this is the first time I’ve realized the symbols don’t match their names at all. Not really sure what’s dirty about them but it’s actually pretty handy to have all suits be called the same names in French and Spanish suits since both are widely used around here in Southern Brazil.
Not the previous poster but I think the “dirty translation” is because in Portugal some things weren’t translated at all (we use the actual word “copas” even though it’s not a Portuguese word) and others are translated differently (were the Spanish use “bastos” - clubs - we use “paus” - sticks).
Do they have ultra-stylized versions too?
The French symbols are either pure black or pure red, they’re symmetrical, and they’re fairly abstract. The “diamond” is just a rhombus. The Spade and Club are fairly abstract shapes that don’t look like anything in particular.
In the image, all the other versions are multicolored, and still seem to represent real-world objects. But, I’m curious if there are “modern” decks where say the coin (oro) is just a circle, or the club is just a long thin rectangle, or something.
You do realize that that “club” is a gherkin, right? :)
Fwiw, I like all the properly illustrated variants so much better than the French variant that always feels lifeless to me.
I don’t think so. The other variants of the Spanish-inspired cards are clearly staves. Besides, basto is very, very close to bastón, the word for a staff like a walking stick. Gherkins are called pepinillos
It was an attempt at a joke. The one version you linked to is green and kind of looks like a gherkin. That’s all.
Looks like you
Not sure if it is the same as Mexico, but the “oros bastos” set doesn’t have cards 8,9,10 but jump from 7 to sota (fancy lad or something like that), caballo (horse) and Rey (king).
This is similar to the set I was used to: https://www.casino.es/imagenes/juegos/mus/baraja-espanola.jpg
Because of that we use different sets for different games.
Edit: the aces always had very cool designs, with the gold ace having the card brand on display.
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