Jargon

Working in a profession awash in jargon, I find it hilarious when I run into an opaque collection of terms in someone else's story:

If I may relate a piece of extraordinarily good luck that has nothing to do with anything, let me subject you all to the tale of the Best Poker Hand Ever. I was playing some Texas hold 'em last not and get dealt a pair of pocket sevens. Not such a hot hand, but with no pre-flop raising and a large table, I figured why not see the flop. The three cards come down -- 7, 7, Queen. I'm in luck. Even better, two other players each had one Queen in the pocket. On the turn, the going gets really good -- down comes the fourth Queen. The flop was shit, but there I sat holding the nuts with two other players who each thought they had a winning hand of three Queens. Nobody ever worries about the chance that someone has four of a kind, especially because seeing the flop with pocket sevens was a pretty questionable move. I'm all in and, naturally enough, I clean up. If only we didn't play with extremely low stakes, I would now be a wealthy man.

I know, I know. You all watch poker on TV now, and your 13-year-old is bluffing you out of twice his allowance every week, so maybe this story makes sense to you, but commonly having the experience of altering my language to convey complex technical issues in layman's terms makes me susceptible to finding this sort of thing funny. Yes, I'm easily amused. Don't worry Matt, we all still love you.