Euchred

Exchanging emails with a friend in Canada and, inevitably, Britain's withdrawal from the European Union came up. I made a feeble pun by suggesting that the divided nation be re-named Sunderland, which explains the reference in this extract from his reply:

So Sunderland etc. simply went for Farage, and there's a lot of Sunderland in England still, far more indeed than Londoners or foreigners or Britain's 20 year olds who've been euchred,  ever imagined.  

He's right, of course, about that large part of the population - a majority who respond to Farage - the non-metropolitan, the excluded, the not-young (75% of Remain voters were 18-24 year olds).  

"Euchred"? This was new to me. My friend moved to rural Canada from England some years ago, which is where he first heard the word and he tells me he didn't know whether it came form a card game, or some other kind of game, but it apparently involves a manoeuvre "which traps an opponent by bypassing his defences, when he is said to have been euchred".

Hmmm. Apart from the misleading echo of "eucharist" I wonder if it isn't likely to be a Canadian version of "snookered", a phrase much in use in Britain still, and equivalent to the less-common "stymied", both suggesting a position in which no movement is possible without consequent loss. Not to be confused with "up shit creek without a paddle", but that seems to fit the current situation admirably. Nobody in our political establishment understands what's going on orwhat's likely to happen. The Parliamentary Labour Party has imploded with the resignation of most of the shadow cabinet. Nobody has a clue what to do. We're all euchred.