Why is somebody called a pool shark?

A

accustatsfan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Why is an amateur player called a pool shark whether they play for money or not, but somebody who plays a musical instrument for personal amusement isn't automatically called a rock star?

I get tired of answering questions from people who assume just because you play pool and run three or more balls in a row you have to be a pool shark.

How do others respond to people when they assume you have to be a pool shark because you enjoy pool?
 
The only reference I can think of is back in the 60's, my mother called me a pool shark when she was
yelling at me after I got caught ditching school, to play pool.
 
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accustatsfan said:
Why is an amateur player called a pool shark whether they play for money or not, but somebody who plays a musical instrument for personal amusement isn't automatically called a rock star?

I get tired of answering questions from people who assume just because you play pool and run three or more balls in a row you have to be a pool shark.

How do others respond to people when they assume you have to be a pool shark because you enjoy pool?
Click to expand...

It's just a way of complimenting a pool player for being good, usually by those who aren't. It sounds better than "tennis bum" I guess.

If a good pool player calls you a "pool shark", hold onto your wallet!
 
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cuesblues said:
The only reference I can think of is back in the 60's, my mother called me a pool shark when she was
yelling at me after I got caught ditching school, to play pool.
Click to expand...

Been there, done that, except she started with you little shit, and it all went to hell in a hand basket from there. :smile:
 
I think the term 'shark' morphed from the term 'sharp' as in 'card sharp'....
...meaning sharp witted.....circa 1800s, I think.
It became 'shark' as the term became more derogatory, because of the predatory way
of life and reputation for manipulating the cards.
Pool inherited this term, best I can figure..

I was called a shark by a guy I was playing for $200 a game once...I told him I wasn't a
shark, 'cause they only played for fins. :cool:
 
pt109 said:
I think the term 'shark' morphed from the term 'sharp' as in 'card sharp'....
...meaning sharp witted.....circa 1800s, I think.
It became 'shark' as the term became more derogatory, because of the predatory way
of life and reputation for manipulating the cards.
Pool inherited this term, best I can figure..

I was called a shark by a guy I was playing for $200 a game once...I told him I wasn't a
shark, 'cause they only played for fins. :cool:
Click to expand...

"Pool shark" was meant to be derogatory coming from my mom, who was born in Chicago / 1914.
 
people who get sharked are those who like to blame a lot of things because they did not focus well on making a good shot.
 
accustatsfan said:
Why is an amateur player called a pool shark whether they play for money or not, but somebody who plays a musical instrument for personal amusement isn't automatically called a rock star?

I get tired of answering questions from people who assume just because you play pool and run three or more balls in a row you have to be a pool shark.

How do others respond to people when they assume you have to be a pool shark because you enjoy pool?
Click to expand...

I usually laugh them off and don't take it to seriously. They are usually just being friendly and looking for something nice to say:)
 
accustatsfan said:
Why is an amateur player called a pool shark whether they play for money or not, but somebody who plays a musical instrument for personal amusement isn't automatically called a rock star?

I get tired of answering questions from people who assume just because you play pool and run three or more balls in a row you have to be a pool shark.

How do others respond to people when they assume you have to be a pool shark because you enjoy pool?
Click to expand...

Blame pool and the people who had a hand in evolving it, from the pros to the gangster/pimp/scumbags/gamblers/sharks. Pool's rep goes back AT LEAST to the turn of the century. If you ever watched Ken Burns' JAZZ, the pool halls and bordellos are sited as scummy places Louis Armstrong had to endure through his boyhood years. Then watch every movie ever made that has a pool hall scene in it, or refers to one.

That is why people call you a shark. Their view is not even a put down, as I see it. It's more part of the lore and lexicon of pool. Pool + shark go together like ice + cream.
 
accustatsfan said:
Why is an amateur player called a pool shark whether they play for money or not, but somebody who plays a musical instrument for personal amusement isn't automatically called a rock star?

I get tired of answering questions from people who assume just because you play pool and run three or more balls in a row you have to be a pool shark.

How do others respond to people when they assume you have to be a pool shark because you enjoy pool?
Click to expand...

It may be double entendre
Either they think you are really good OR
they want to string you along so you think you are really good and they hustle you to make some money games or you later get thrashed by some better player and make fool of yourself :)
Just remember that Warren Buffett quote
"If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy." :smile:
 
after being called this (shark) for most of my pool playing years i have come t o em brace the term as more of a compliment than a derogatory term. in fact in my later years i placed a vanity plate on my vehicle with "sHarK" placed on the front.

a shark patrols his watere and feedss from time-to-time like other predators but if you go messing with a shark you better be prepared or you could get sharked.

but it's just a pool scene term. if it bothers you then get out you skin tough ner because this term in the pool world is nothing.
 
I think of it as just a generic term for poolplayers that's so common that it pops into people's heads as soon as they hear the word pool. No different than say "slugger" in baseball or "sissy girly man" in soccer.
 
Most of the times I have heard it have been as a compliment and that is how I would take it.
 
yep

caff3in3 said:
Most of the times I have heard it have been as a compliment and that is how I would take it.
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I agree with this; it's better than the other expression I've heard after some non-pool player sees me make a few balls and says, "uh-oh, he's had a misspent youth!"
 
cuesblues said:
The only reference I can think of is back in the 60's, my mother called me a pool shark when she was
yelling at me after I got caught ditching school, to play pool.
Click to expand...

I never ditched school to play pool but I was a regular in the tavern/pool hall. I never had a drink of alcohol in there, only played pool and if Mom had known what the other kids were doing who weren't in the pool hall she would have paid my table time to keep me in the pool hall.

The term shark for the general public has a different meaning than among pool players.
 
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