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Playing the fool

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on June 19, 2010 at 23:19

In Reply to: Playing the fool posted by TB on June 19, 2010 at 09:09:

: In watching the TV show The Tudors I came across a surprising moment. Henry criticized his motley for a poor play at cards. The error was having "played the Fool" as in The Fool card of the Tarot deck. What game were they playing? and...

: Did the Play the Fool phrase originate with card play?
: Anybody?

The original use of the tarot pack was for games-playing, not divination, and the game of tarot/tarock/tarocco is still played in many countries of Central Europe. Click on this link for a description of the game:
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Tarot,_tarock_and_tarocchi_games.
There is no connection with the phrase, however. To "play the fool" means "to act the fool" - "player" in the 16th century being a synonym for "actor". (VSD)

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