Make Your Editor Cry: Card Shark vs. Card Sharp
A card sharp is a person who uses skill, sleight of hand, or deception to win at poker or other card games. In modern use, the label is not always intended as pejorative, and is sometimes used to refer to practitioners of card tricks or people who are just skilled at games of cards.
A person who is “sharp” is generally one who is intelligent, organized, and well groomed. A shark, on the other hand, is a predatory ocean dwelling fish. When someone is compared to a “shark” that is usually a common description for somebody who succeeds thanks to a steely, hunter-like focus.
However, when it comes to cards, the correct expression is “card sharp.”
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.