On Tue, 06 May 2014, alexander koryagin wrote to All:   
      
    ak> There is a thimble. There are some crooks that do the following   
    ak> thing.  They show to people a small ball and hide it under one of   
    ak> the three  thimbles. If one points correctly where the ball is he   
    ak> gets the prize  money. Actually you cannot say it correctly,   
    ak> because these crooks have  so great manual dexterity that they are   
    ak> able to remove the ball from  under the thimble and put it back   
    ak> while nobody notes it.   
      
   this is the "shell game" used by con men to con you out of your money... they   
   also use "three card monte" which works in the same manner except using   
   playing cards...   
      
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_game   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-card_Monte   
      
    ak> Can you call a crook like this a thimbler? Do you have such a word?   
      
   that might be a valid term for them but "con man" is the best...   
      
      
     con man   
       noun informal   
      
       noun: con man; plural noun: con men;    
       noun: conman; plural noun: conmen;    
       noun: con-man; plural noun: con-men;    
       noun: con artist; plural noun: con artists   
      
       a man who cheats or tricks someone by means of a confidence game.   
      
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   One of the great tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a   
   gang of brutal facts. --Benjamin Franklin   
      
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    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.71)