I’ve got an issue with this New York Times editorial. See if you can guess why:
Asked to choose between the casinos and the health of the people who work in them, Atlantic City has sided with the casinos. The City Council voted in October to allow smoking in the city’s gambling parlors for at least another year — a complete cave-in to the industry and a cruel insult to hundreds of dealers, waiters and other casino workers who will continue to be exposed to the demonstrable risks of secondhand smoke.
No, it’s not the fact that the Times editors are lambasting City Council for lacking “political courage.” At this stage of the game, that’s like an impassioned treatise claiming that rain is wet. It’s the “gambling parlor” thing. I know that they’ve got to work in a synonym or two for “casino,” but you can’t call something that’s 80,000 square feet and has 4,000 slot machines a “parlor,” can you? A quick web search turns up two definitions:
# reception room in an inn or club where visitors can be received
# living room: a room in a private house or establishment where people can sit and talk and relax
I guess it’s technically a “parlor” in the first sense of the word, but I think of a “parlor” as more intimate and more refined than most giant casinos.
My personal style suggestion is the more proletarian and raw-boned “gambling hall,” which I think is closer to the mark. “Gambling palace” also works, if you want to be more grandiose. “Gambling den” is fine with me, too, even though most of them took out their wood paneling a long time ago.