Abracadabra: A magic word used to indicate to the audience that something
amazing is about to happen. Other magic words and phrases include: hocus
pocus, alakazam, sim sala bim, shazam, presto, great Caesar's ghost,
dy-no-mite, d'oh, eat my shorts, and what you talkin' 'bout Willis.
Angles: The corners of magic equipment. Cabinet with pointy corners are
said
to have "good angles," but, conversely, cards with pointy corners have
"bad
angles."
Black art: Magic that relies on selling one's soul to the Prince of
Darkness
instead of sleight of hand.
Burn: Being so mad that you caught a magician doing something fishy that
you
set his hands on fire.
Cardician: A magician who is also a cardiologist.
Centre tear: Just tearing the middle of a piece of paper and not the edges
so you leave sort of a squared paper doughnut behind.
Charlier cut: A fancy way to shuffle cards taught by the magician's Uncle
Charley.
Clean: A magician who is pure of spirit and body (rare).
Close-up magic: Magic that's not very interesting unless you can actually
see it.
Cold deck: A deck of cards that has been kept in the refrigerator to
preserve crispness.
Confederate: Someone who worked for a magician in the southern United
States
during the Civil War.
Conjurer: Someone who uses magic as an excuse to get out of jury duty.
Cor****ate magic: Magic performed at trade shows and other such venues for
the purpose of interesting potential customers in a product. For example,
"I
see that from this tarot deck you freely selected the death card, which
reminds me -- are you fully insured?"
Crimp: A card man with a bad leg.
Deal: Hand out cards from the top of the deck.
Deal seconds: Hand out two cards from the top of the deck.
Deal middles: Handing out cards using the performer's stomach as a table.
Deal bottoms: (You don't want to know.)
Dirty: When a magician tries to cover up the fact that a method has been
exposed by making extremely off-color jokes.
Disappearance: When a hired magician just doesn't show up.
Distraction: See Misdirection.
Ditch: Where a magician gets thrown if he's caught second dealing during a
legitimate poker game.
Double lift: A British building with two elevators.
Dovetail shuffle : When cards are shuffled by trained birds.
Effect: Whatever it was that the magician was attempting to do.
Egg bag: The bag in which a magician's lunch is carried.
Elmsley count: A method of determining how many Elmsleys are in a room.
Escape: Using skill and trickery to get out of something that you
shouldn't
have been in in the first place (straight jacket, flaming rope, spiked
death
trap, expensive restaurant, etc.).
Fakir: A magician who specializes in fire walking, lying on a bed of
nails,
hammering spikes into his nose, etc., because other kinds of magic require
too much practice.
False shuffle: Pretending to have trouble walking so the audience will
sympathyze with the magician.
False transfer: Using slight of hand to switch busses without paying
extra.
Faro: A city in North Dakota. Magicians moving toward Faro are said to be
"doing an in Faro," while magicians moving away from the fabled city are
"doing an out Faro."
Flash: An in-trick clothing malfunction.
Flourish: Doing something fancy to extend the length of a trick because
you
are being paid by the hour.
Force: Making a spectator do something they do not intend to do, such as
believe that these are not the droids they are looking for.
French drop: A feat of daring in which the magician jumps off the Eiffel
Tower.
Gimmick: Whatever it is that a magician does to stand out from other
magicians. For example, a magician might be known for working with white
tigers, performing feats of endurance, constructing large-scale illusions,
having one red fingernail, or getting abusive when restaurant patrons
don't
tip.
Glide: To walk without moving the feet.
Glimpse: To slyly steal a look at an attractive spectator during a
performance.
Gospel magic: Magic intended to teach a moral lesson (e.g., "everyone who
enjoys watching magicians is going to hell").
Hat Production: Making things appear out of a hat. Similarly, bag
production, cabinet production, and rabbit production.
Illusion: Any large-scale feat of magic accompanied by fla****ng lights,
special effects, a dramatic soundtrack, and chorography.
Illusionist: The guy who is actually trying to get some work done amidst
the
lights, special effects, music, and dancing.
International Brotherhood of Magicians: A world-wide cabal of powerful
wizards that is the true power behind all human affairs.
Juggler: The big vein on the side of your neck.
Key card: A playing card slipped between a door and door jamb for purposes
of bypassing a spring lock.
Lapping: Drinking without using the hands.
Legerdemain: The main book in which a magician keeps financial records.
Levitation: When a magician gets a rise out of someone.
Load: Telling an untruth to enhance a performance. E.g., "Did you hear
what
he said about being banned from ten casinos? What a load."
Loaded: Performing while drunk.
Magic dust: Expensive dust used by some magicians to get "extra loaded."
Magician's choice: Doing what the magician wants (for once).
Manipulator: A magician who uses teasing or peer pressure to get a
spectator
to come on stage when they don't want to.
Mechanic: A magician who also fixes cars to make ends meet.
Mechanic's grip: The firm handshake of a mechanic.
Misdirection: See Distraction.
Nail writer: Device used to write crib notes on fingernails.
One Ahead: When a magician is thinking about what he'll be doing after the
show instead of concentrating on his performance.
Out: When a spectator screws up a trick so the angry magician has to throw
him off stage.
Overhand shuffle: A fake shuffle whereby the magician splits the deck in
two, holds one half in each hand, and then waves the hands over each other
in a "hand jive" fa****on.
Packet trick: A magic trick that can be kept in a teeny, tiny envelope
(linking washers, vani****ng ball Bering, torn and restored postage stamp,
etc.)
Palming: Shaking hands.
Palming a card: Shaking hands with a card.
Patter: Over-dramatic descriptions, dated language, and bad jokes found in
cheap magic trick instructions.
Peek: A glimpse at a spectator wearing revealing clothing.
PK: Psychokinesis -- the art of getting crazy people to move.
Plant: Vegitation secretly put on the stage by the magician to give the
audience the feeling that they might be outside.
Prestidigitation: Using an ink pad to leave your fingerprints for the
police
after being arrested for street performing without a license.
Profonde: Some kind of French thing, probably.
Pull: Method for removing a rabbit from a hat.
Readers: Cards that have codes in the corner (e.g., "K" for a "king") of
the
card face so that they can be identified by anyone who can read.
Restaurant work: Doing magic for food.
Retention of vision: Remembering the point of a performance.
Riffle shuffle: A false shuffle in which the halves of a deck are split
and
then restored to their previous order while the magician makes "motorboat"
noises with his mouth.
Rough: How a magician looks after a performance in front of a bad
audience.
(This can happen even if the performer is smooth.)
Routine: The same old tricks the magician always does.
Self-working trick: A trick that a magician can do alone.
Servante: The guy who cleans up after a magician.
Shuffle: To randomize a deck of playing cards.
Silk: A handkerchief you wouldn't want to blow your nose on.
Slide: A tube or chute to get quickly from one location to another (such
as
from the top of a ladder to the playground sand).
Sleight of hand: Having small hands.
Slip: What a magician may wear to protect her modesty from bright stage
lights.
Spirit cabinet: Where a magician keeps the booze.
Stack: The top half of an attractive female magician.
Stand-up magic: A magician that will stick by you to the bitter end (e.g.,
"That magician -- he's a stand-up guy"):
Steal: Taking something (such as a watch) from a spectator to help make up
for bad ticket sales.
Stodart egg: A fake egg used by magicians too cheap to buy a new egg for
each performance.
Street magic: Magic performed by a magician who can't fill a theater
and/or
is homeless.
Stripper deck: Cards with ****ie pictures on them.
Substitution: A magician who performs when the magician who was supposed
to
be performing is out sick.
Sucker effect: A trick involving a lollypop.
Svengali deck: A deck of cards that can use its hypnotic powers to control
you mind.
Switch: Subject of the old-fa****oned phrase, "Spare the wand, spoil the
magician."
Table shuffle: In a stage show, the quick moving of spectators' tables so
that they no longer know where they are sitting.
Talking: Routine in which the cards of a ventriloquist/magican tell the
audience how tricks are done.
Thumb tip: The very end of a magician's thumb.
Topit: A cockney top hat.
Trick: One paid encounter with a "John."
Walkaround: A magician who walks around hoping to find someone with
nothing
to do but watch a card trick.
XCM: Extreme card manipulation (alternatively, an ex-card magician or
xylophone concert manager).
Zombie gimmick: A secret rod used to deliver a powerful electric charge
that
can bring the dead back to life.
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