[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: RARA-AVIS: Hardboiled slang - shamus



> There may be a connection here with the Irish immigrant community, as the
> term closely resembles 'seamus', an Irish (male) name.
> There maybe a forgotten connection with an investigator of some sort with
> the name Seamus (the only irish-american I can recall, off the top of my
> head, is Chief O'Hara <g>)  Can anyone on the list shed any light here?

There's some discussion of this in Rosten's 'Joy of Yiddish' - I think he 
links 'shamus' with (off the top of my head) the Yiddish 'shammes'.

Ed

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X  Ed Thompson  Director, American Studies Programme  X
X     The University,  Dundee  DD1 4HN,  Scotland     X
X  tel. 01382-344381  email ehthomps@dux.dundee.ac.uk X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

-
# RARA-AVIS:  To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
# to majordomo@icomm.ca


Follow-Ups: References:


[Archives] | [RARA-AVIS]