Dr. Larry K. Uffelman of Mansfield University, in the Star-Gazette, gives the origin of the phrase “to leave in the lurch”. The surprise to me is that it has to do with a defunct game similar to backgammon known as “lerch”. (I’m an amateur backgammon player, but I’ve never heard of lerch.) On the other hand, a bit of digging might show that other games, say chess, have given birth to new words.

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