A recent post by Peg Kaplan somewhere on BridgeWinners suggested that the common “Assign the Blame (or ATB)” label assigned to bridge puzzles and polls might be far too harsh to bridge players everywhere.

I think she has a point.

Thanks for giving me something to think about for a few days.

The Term ATB Elsewhere

Can you imagine if the term “Assign the Blame” suddenly got introduced to the corporate space? Someone screws up and they send out a memo: KEVIN FROM ACCOUNTING, YOU MESSED UP – ATB

There would be a lot of trips to HR. Hell, some might even throw themselves off the top of the office building as a result.

Transpose the term ATB to a couples’ therapy session. Imagine the therapist adjusting their glasses, writing something down and then leading with that. They’d be single in under fifteen minutes.

When somebody dies hospital, they don’t call out, “Assign the Blame!” over the intercom the moment the patient flatlines.

Let’s not do it when relating to bridge.

What ATB Makes Me Think Of  

When I see the term ATB attached to a bridge play, I get worried, stressed and a little sweaty.

I think, “Oh, God. This is probably mine.”

Within the space of a few seconds, I have every seeming bad bridge move that I might have made that week flashing before my eyes, wondering if I’m being judged for them somewhere.

Maybe the terrible game I played was recorded and broadcast to bridge players everywhere to show them the opposite of good bidding: Maybe it’s out there somewhere now, about as embarrassing to my reputation as a sex tape would have been.

There are no sex tapes out there that I know of, but there are probably a few questionable plays and bids in my past.

I think changing the term Assign the Blame takes the sting out of the term and makes it a puzzle instead of a suggested “pin the tail on the donkey” or “let’s burn the witch.”

Language Has Power

Language has a lot of power.

It’s why advertising is effective – and why certain terms are used in food advertisements to trigger the instinctive bodily reaction of “Damn, I want to eat seven of these right now.”

The mind has instinctive reactions – often involuntary ones – when seeing or hearing certain words.

It’s something that AI systems, investigators and mentalists use to spot the lie. Say the words blame, guilt or lie and see who blushes – or tries not to – first.

Any suggestions for alternatives to “Assign the Blame” as originally suggested by Peg?