Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-25
HEADS OR TAILS"
ORIGIN OF THE PHRASE THAT is
CENTURIES OLD.
The Expression and Some Familiar
. Equivalents-"Man or Woman
Gambling by Tossing.

Not many days ago a morning newspaper
had paragraph in which Il was sagely
remarked that the influence Of kings and
queens extends to many of the minor
things Of life. And then, by way Of Illus
trating this indisputable remark. 1t was
stated that before the accession of Queen
Victoria people who tossed with a coin
usually cried Man or woman"-the ''wO-
man being, was shown by the quota
ton from 'Pickwick." the figure of a
dragon-but that when the queens head
appeared on coins some confusion prob
ably arose, and hence" We were told.
the popular cry became heads or tails q"
Further. the question was asked, "WiIl the
kings accession bring about the revival of
the almost obsolete term?'
The appearance of his majesty's head on
the coinage in place of that of the late
Queen Victoria is hardly likely to affect
the popular formula; but the paragraph
list was hopelessly at sea in giving 1879 or
Whereabouts the date of Introduction of
the said formula. Heads or tails" The
phrase was in use genera tons before Man
or woman was ever heard Of; and. by the
way, the latter did not die out of use at
the accession of Queen Victoria, any more
than head or taiP' then first came in. So
long ago as 1854 Otway in one Of his plays
talks of the way boys played with far
things-they go to heads or tails for EN-.
FASHION III Speech.
The tall is, of course, a mere fashion
of speech used simply to denote the re-
verse of head" In Ireland. when the re-
verse of coins bore a harp. the cry natu-
rally used to be head or harp" A more
recent English version is head or woman"
the woman being the figure of Britannia,
which is hardly so absurd the identifi-
cation of the dragon trampled by ST. George
with a woman. The Pickwickian allusion
mentioned above occurs near the beginning
of Mr.. Pickwick's adventures at the Bull
Inn, Rochester, on the occasion of the
charity ball Mr.. Jingle and Mr.. Tupman
are about to purchase their tickets. Not
worth while splitting a guinea. said the
former; toss who shall pay for both-I
call; you spin-first time-woman-womail-
bewitching woman, and down came the
coin says the chronicler, with the dragon
Called by courtesy woman) uppermost.
An older English phrase used for tossing
purposes was cross and pile" This was
only applicable, strictly speaking. when
the diverse of the coin bore the design of
a cross, but the words were used occa-
sionally long after the cross had disap-
peared from the coinage. The origin Of the
pile" is uncertain. The phrase came to
US from the French, who played "a croix
ct pile" before did. 1t is, indeed, at
least six or seven hundred years Old for a
distinct allusion to it has been found in
French of the thirteenth century. The
pile has been variousy explained as due
to the representation of a column or pillar
on the reverse of ancient French coins, to
an iron tool called pile used In stamp
ing money, to the design of a ship which
once figured on the coinage of France, and
| to several dozen other origins; but the fact
seems to be that the pile has really no
more definite meaning than the tall of
our common English phrase. To search
for a definite origin or an exact eXplana-
ton is about hopeful an undertaking rs
to hunt for literal tail on what the
street tosser would call brown"
Pitch and Toss.
To play at cross and pile" that is, to
play at pitch and toss. is very frequent
phrase In our older writers. The remark
made by character in Shadwell's old play
of EPSON Wells that Marriage is no
worse than cross l win, pile you lose"
shows that the little game now usually de-
scribed heads l win. tails you lose,
is no novelty Tossing is now considered
a very vulgar form of gambling, but Of old
it was not unknown in the royal palace
The wardrobe accounts of King Edward III
show that his Plantagenet majesty Dor
rowed five shillings from Henry, the
kings baker. to play cross and pile.
Indeed, this weakest of monarChs seems
to nave made a practice of borrowing small
sums from those around him, for other
entries read: Mem, paid to Barnard, usher
of the kings chamber, money which he lost
at cross and pile; to Monsieur Robert Wat
teville eghtpence." Pitch and toss is evil
IDENTIFY one of those pastimes which have
come down in the world. but if kings no
longer play heads tails the decision
of matters of some Importance by the toss
of coin has not been unknown in recent
times. Gambling by tossing is very old: 1t
has probably existed ever since coin was
first made with different designs on its two
sides The Romans of long ago, instead of
calling head tail cried capita aut
navia,' i. e., heads or ships. the two-faced
head of Janus being commonly shown on
one side of the coin and the Prov of ship
on the other.