About thirty-five years ago, when I was working a construction job in Windsor, Ontario, I was surprised to hear our boss refer to some disreputable characters he had known earlier in life as, "a real bunch of rounders" - that's the only time I've ever heard the term used outside of a folksong. As for its origins, all I know on that subject is what I've learned on Mudcat ... !

I'm just curious, though, as to who else has heard the term "rounders" used by normal people - i.e., not by folksingers and their hangers-on, or by the academically-inclined in moments of irony - and where.