Reader question:

Please explain “in the cards” in this sentence: “The couple wanted children but doctors said they were not in the cards.” What cards exactly?

My comments:

They wanted to have children but never were able to conceive. So therefore husband and wife went to see doctors, who all told them the same thing – that, medically speaking, perhaps they weren’t able to.

In other words, there was little they could do. The causes were medical.

No precise medical causes are given here but the doctors seem to be in agreement and are pretty certain that children were not in the cards for this couple.

That’s what we can more or less safely infer from the expression “in the cards”.

The “cards” in here originally refer to tarot cards, cards people play to predict the future. The cards all have pictures representing different ages or aspects of life. By analyzing the cards you select, tarot readers can tell your future – what career you’re going to have, whether it’ll be a successful one or well-paying and so forth.

If you ask the tarot reader why he thinks you’re going to be a billionaire, he’ll probably say: “It’s in the cards.”

And if you ask him why your job doesn’t pay and you’re doomed to retire penniless, he’s going to say the same thing: “Why, it’s in the cards.”

Cards being cards, you may choose to believe or disbelieve them at your own discretion – or peril.

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