What is McMurphy referring to when he gets mad at Martini for not realizing the total of his hand when they're playing cards? He annoyingly says, "This is ... queen here. You don't count the this and the this!"
I think it's just that he is upset they don't know how to play cards.
Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw
I gather that he's upset but he seems to specifically trace out something in the air. I wasn't sure, given the character's ribald manner, but it almost felt like he was tracing out two breasts? "This is a **cking queen, here. You don't count the this and the this." Maybe Martini is saying the queen card only counts as two? I can't remember exactly how many he thinks his hand is worth after McMurphy deals him his card.
shareI gather that the guy was counting the shapes of the Q or something.
shareWhen Cuckoo's Nest came out I had just moved to another country to work. I was 18, homesick and lonely, and with nothing else to do, saw this wonderful movie 16 times in the summer of '76. I watch it still every so often on DVD, and I can still feel those lines coming up, "the this and the this", "Whadda you think she is, some kinda the champ or something?" (That was how I always heard it but subtitles render it as "a champ" - I thought little misspeaks like these and Billy Bibbit saying "Um yeah, um yeah, um yeah, they DO" when Mac asks "What's the matter Billy, fishin' don't grab ya?" give the script a realism and the movie almost a documentary feel at times)
There are other little quirks, like when Harding, in group therapy, says "Very much. I suspect her. I suspect her", with that second "suspect" emphasised, then Taber's outburst - "Yeah Harding, you're so effing dumb I can't believe it!" When Mac is trying to lift the sink and appears to correct himself: "Warmin' up. Warming up", and his speech when he reappears after his electro-shock therapy - "How about it, you creeps, you lunatics, mental defectives". A movie I will never get tired of watching or quoting.
As to the card game, I've never thought too deeply about it - I just assumed Mac was frustrated with Martini's inability or refusal to play by the rules, and blurted out something meaningless.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.