Blue chip

Posted by ESC on November 18, 2005

In Reply to: Blue chip posted by Sarah High on November 18, 2005

: Where does the phrase "blue chip" originate?

Poker.

BLUE CHIPS - ".whose claim to fame is that they are not gambles, take their name, oddly enough, from poker, in which the blue chips used for betting are the highest denomination, followed by red, then white. As early as 1904, Wall Streeters applied the poker term to high-priced, dividend-producing stocks of reputable corportations." From "Wall Street Slang: High Steppers, Fallen Angels, & Lollipops" by Kathleen Odean (Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1988).