Arschkarte

An "Arschkarte," or "ass card," is as bad as it sounds. If you were a soccer player it would mean game over -- at least for you. Back in the days before color television, fans at home couldn't distinguish between a yellow and a red card -- and there's a big difference between the two! That forced the referee to keep the two cards in different pockets. You guessed it: The red card was kept in the ref's back pocket, lending it the name "butt card." These days, "Arschkarte" can also be used to say someone's drawn the short straw, or gotten the bad end of a deal.