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I'm Game!

Posted by Bruce Kahl on March 22, 2000

In Reply to: I'm Game! posted by Frankie on March 22, 2000

: How did "I'm Game"! come to mean "count me in"?
: Or, "who's game"---who's in.

Game as an adjective is a word going back to the 1600s. It is from a very Old English word "gamen" which means joy or pleasure.

God loved he best with all his whole hearte At alle times, though him gamed or smarte.
--Chaucer

It is interesting as a footnote here to add that the term gaming, which is a modification of the term gambling, was put forward by the modern corporate rulers of the casino industry as being more sophisticated and acceptable than the word gambling which prompts negative thoughts in the minds of many. The term gambling is believed to derive from the Anglo-Saxon words gamenian which is defined as meaning "to sport, to play", or gamen which means "joy, pleasure, sport".

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