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Головы или хвосты
2025-09-12 23:34Встретилось в английском тексте, что вместо "орёл или решка" используется выражение "heads or tails". Головы ладно, но откуда у монет хвосты? Пошёл выяснять.
Why is coin toss called heads or tails? Coins have no head or tail.
The phrase "heads or tails" in coin tossing refers to the two sides of a coin: the obverse (front) side, which typically features a portrait or "head" of a person, such as a monarch, president, or deity, and the reverse (back) side, which is simply the opposite and thus called the "tail" end in a metaphorical sense. This terminology doesn't mean coins literally have animal-like heads or tails but draws from the idea of opposites, much like how "head" and "tail" describe the front and back ends of a creature or object (e.g., the expression "can't make head or tail of it," meaning unable to understand something from beginning to end).
The practice itself dates back to ancient Rome, where coin tossing was known as "navia aut caput" (Latin for "ship or head"), based on Roman coins like the as or sestertius that often depicted a god's or emperor's head on one side and a ship's prow on the other. It was used as a game of chance for children, gambling among elites, and even reportedly by Julius Caesar to settle disputes. In medieval England, a similar game was called "cross and pile," referring to coins with a cross (representing "heads") on one side and the blank or stamped reverse (the "pile," from the French for the die used to strike coins) on the other.
The specific English phrase "heads or tails" evolved later, with the earliest recorded use of "tails" for a coin's reverse appearing in 1684 in Thomas Otway's play "The Atheist", where a character says, "As Boys do with their Farthings ... go to Heads or Tails for 'em." By then, "tail" had long carried connotations of the "backside" or opposite end (dating to around 1300 in English), making it a natural counterpart to "head." Today, it's a universal way to make fair, random decisions between two options, like starting a sports game or settling a bet.
Why is coin toss called heads or tails? Coins have no head or tail.
The phrase "heads or tails" in coin tossing refers to the two sides of a coin: the obverse (front) side, which typically features a portrait or "head" of a person, such as a monarch, president, or deity, and the reverse (back) side, which is simply the opposite and thus called the "tail" end in a metaphorical sense. This terminology doesn't mean coins literally have animal-like heads or tails but draws from the idea of opposites, much like how "head" and "tail" describe the front and back ends of a creature or object (e.g., the expression "can't make head or tail of it," meaning unable to understand something from beginning to end).
The practice itself dates back to ancient Rome, where coin tossing was known as "navia aut caput" (Latin for "ship or head"), based on Roman coins like the as or sestertius that often depicted a god's or emperor's head on one side and a ship's prow on the other. It was used as a game of chance for children, gambling among elites, and even reportedly by Julius Caesar to settle disputes. In medieval England, a similar game was called "cross and pile," referring to coins with a cross (representing "heads") on one side and the blank or stamped reverse (the "pile," from the French for the die used to strike coins) on the other.
The specific English phrase "heads or tails" evolved later, with the earliest recorded use of "tails" for a coin's reverse appearing in 1684 in Thomas Otway's play "The Atheist", where a character says, "As Boys do with their Farthings ... go to Heads or Tails for 'em." By then, "tail" had long carried connotations of the "backside" or opposite end (dating to around 1300 in English), making it a natural counterpart to "head." Today, it's a universal way to make fair, random decisions between two options, like starting a sports game or settling a bet.
