Where did the phrase, "Welsh on a Bet", come from?

[Yavin4]

Thanks.

[GOPisEvil]

1. I thought it was "whelch".

:shrug:

But then you Canadians have different words for everything. :D

[Yavin4]

4. I'm Not Canadian

I'm a Canadian wannabe.

[GOPisEvil]

5. Ah,gotcha.

Me too. :-)

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. Here you go...

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/1/messages/2119.html

The term welsher became common in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the argot of race-track bettors. But from a reader came a comforting word for all Welshmen, one which gives a touch of logic to the use of the term: 'It was ENGLISH bookies who, having too many long shot winners against them, fled over the border to 'boondock' Wales to become the original welshers and escape irate bettors looking for their payoff.

[Xithras]

6. What she said.

It wasn't just bettors though. In eighteenth century Britain many people fled to avoid debtors prisons, and relatively backwards Wales was a good place to escape the law. Fleeing to escape debt became known as "Welshing on your debts" as a result.

It became most closely associated with bookies later on, because they frequently overextended themselves and fled to save their freedom AND their lives.

The pronounciation in the US has changed over time, and it's usually pronounced as "welch" today, and not "welsh".

[SnowGoose]

3. And "gyp" as a synonym for cheat.

from what I understand, it's a racial slur (Gypsies) just like "welsh".

In the words of Peter Gabriel, "nothing fades like the future, nothing clings like the past."

[Xithras]

7. "Welsh" is not a racial slur.

It was a term applied to people who fled to Wales, not the Welsh people themselves. If you were a Welsher, you were a Briton who escaped to Wales to flee your debt and avoid debtors prison.

[SnowGoose]

8. Hey thanks!

The only thing better than learning something you didn't know is learning that what you thought you knew was wrong (helps reduce the frequency of looking like an ass - and man, I can use the help).

So thanks again for the heads-up!

'Goose