In 2020/2021, Dave and I played a lot of cards with Tim and Jenny. There was nothing else to do.. At one point, after hours of cards and a few rounds of Old Fashioneds, a couple of us were sure another one of us was cheating. Tim clapped his hands twice and threw them in the air, declaring, “I’m out!” Another one of us yelled, “Redeal!” And, because of the Old Fashioneds and probably also because of a year of lock down, we thought it was hilarious, and we turned the gesture into a sign to demand a “redeal.” Any time one of us didn’t like the cards we got, we’d clap twice, throw our hands in the air, and shout “redeal!”
I’d kind of forgotten about it. It’s been a couple years since we last used the gesture.
Then last weekend the girls and I were playing cards with my parents. My dad dealt a hand. Things had been getting goofy. Opa had been getting sassy. And Ally clapped her hands together and threw them up in the air. She expected everyone to know that she was demanding a redeal. After all, she, as a ten and eleven-year-old had witnessed the adults in her life make the gesture a dozen times.
My parents looked a bit perplexed and I figured out what happened and burst out laughing. Ally explained to my parents that meant redeal. My dad, who’s played more cards than anyone else I know, raised an eyebrow. So I explained the situation.
My dad told Ally that it was just a local thing, a very local thing… like within 100 feet radius local thing.
