another memory:

my sister used to play a card game with me called the old maid (the idea was to find matching pairs, so 2 bakers, 2 artists, 2 postmen, etc), but if you ended up with the old maid in your hand, you lost the game.

one day she came in and told me we couldn't play the game
I asked her why, and she replied

"well, because I've lost the old maid card."

yep... playing a game called the old maid without the maid... quite difficult