The name Box Car Days calls to mind various number-nicknames rolled out at the gaming tables. For example, the slang boxcars comes from the resemblance of a pair of sixes to roofed freight cars. It's easy to see how that roll then picked up the nickname hobo's delight on a rainy night.

The very desirable roll of five and six—ye olde eleven—is also known as manna from heaven. That same drive to rhyme inspired twin fins for a roll of two fives; two fives are also known as puppy paws. A five and a four is called strychnine or quinine, or sometimes Nina from Pasadena. Losing one from Nina from Pasadena yields an Eighter from Decatur. When an Eighter from Decatur comes in the form of two fours, it's called a square pair or windows.

To gamblers, seven is the magic number, and the name magic number is applied to that lucky roll. A roll of six has a number of names, ranging from sixie from Dixie to Sister Hicks and Jimmy Hicks.

Next on our countdown is a roll of five. That's a fever, a Phoebe, or a fiver-fiver race car driver. Then comes four, with the mysterious nickname Little Joe.

A three is known as both acey-deucey and bad news, while the low roll of two is dubbed two bad boys from Illinois, cat eyes, and perhaps the best known nickname in the world of dicing: snake eyes.

What's the origin of the name "Craps" as it applies to dice games?

Found this ...

In reply to:

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Incidentally, the word craps, for the dice game, derives from the word crab and is unrelated to the term for excrement. It is a French corruption of the English term which stood for a throw of two or three. Why the English called such a toss crabs is not known, but according to the OED2, it dates at least to 1768. The tale that it derives from the nickname of Bernard de Marigny, a New Orleans gambler (circa 1800) known as Johnny Crapaud, literally Johnny Toad, is fanciful, but not the correct etymology.

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Actually, this was a really good site about word origins wordorigins.org . Plenty there to check out.

Thanks! Etymology is cool.....