An Ace Up Your Sleeve

Ukraine's Mud

One of the biggest stories in 2022 is the Ukraine invasion by Russia. In the days leading up to the war, most people believed that it would be an easy win for Russia. Russia spends ten times as much as Ukraine on military, but Ukraine had an ace up their sleeve.

The Russians did not plan for the muddy roads which stopped the Russian tanks and gave Ukraine a very large advantage. It is strange that the Russian did not account for this. February is known as Rasputitsa in Russian. It translates to “muddy road season.” Clearly they should have known about the conditions they would face. Additionally, I think it is funny considering how the weather of the region helped in their battle against Napolean. One of the best graphs ever produced shows how much of Napolean’s army was affected by the muddy Russian winter.

 

 

Meaning

An ace up your sleeve in a secret (powerful) advantage. The advantage might have a secret piece of knowledge, skill, or weapon. It alludes to a card game, where the player hides the best card up their sleeve. A sleeve is the arm part of a shirt. At any time, the card player can secretly take out the powerful card and use it.

 

 

Origin

Indeed, the phrase is derived from the practice of hiding cards to cheat. In particular, this was an issue is gambling games like poker. The phrase is believed to go back to the 1800s, but the first written appearance is in His Master Purpose by Harold Bindloss (1903).

 

 

BONUS: Card Shark

A card shark (or cardsharp) is someone who cheats at card games. Sometimes it can be used to say that a person is skilled at playing cards. It gives the impression that the person is a predator and is hunting the other players.

 

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Resources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/how-ukraines-mud-became-a-secret-weapon-in-its-defense-against-russia.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-military-comparison-1.6365115
https://grammarist.com/idiom/up-ones-sleeve-and-an-ace-up-ones-sleeve
https://www.idioms.online/ace-up-your-sleeve/