Games and game theory at the table

« Bluff » is one of the few words at this table that English lends rather than borrows, and it is worth following what happened to it abroad. French took the noun and the verb whole and left the card sense untouched: le bluff is still a hand played as though it were better than it is, and c’était du bluff is the plain « it was a bluff ». Then it quietly opened a second door. In everyday French, bluffer quelqu’un means to astonish that person, with no deceit in it at all. Ton gâteau m’a bluffé is a compliment about a cake; j’ai été bluffé par le concert says the evening was far better than expected. The adjective followed: c’est bluffant is roughly « that is stunning », and a shop window can be bluffante without misleading anybody. Two things follow for a reader. Do not render il m’a bluffé as « he bluffed me », which reports a swindle where the French reports admiration. And watch the part of speech, because that is what separates the two senses: the noun kept the poker, the verb took the applause.