Origin of "fall guy"
tinwhistler
the 1920s; see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_guy
However, Safire in today's NYTimes Mag says Lighter's HDAS has a
citation back to 1904 (without Safire's sharing such citation). I've
done some searching for an antedate, but am rather daunted by the Wiki
article etc. Would someone be willing to (1) share the 1904 citation,
(2) research further for an antedate, or (3) do both 1 and 2? Thanks
in advance.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego
Martin Ambuhl
Chapman's revision of Wentworth & Flexner (1995) dates it to "by 1906"
without giving a supporting citation.
Green gives us the background for the Wiki article as
"According to Bentley & Corbett there was a real-life /fall guy/,
Albert Bacon Fall (1861-1944) who in 1922 took upon himself the
entire blame for the Teapot Dome Scandal; despite the involvement of
many top government officials, Fall was the only one to serve time,
a sentence of one year and one day; this, however, does not match
the OED first citation, 1906."
I have removed OED from my computer, so cannot give you that citation.
Green's text suggests that someone with an OED may be able to give you
the 1906 citation, if not the 1904 one.
Ayto agrees with the 1904 date on p.99, but with 1906 on p. 313. His
citations are meant to illustrative rather than historical. They are
from _Spectator_ (1963) on p. 99 and Saul Bellow (1956) in p. 313.
Donna Richoux
Yes, I own the book, which I usually call the Random House Historical
Dictionary of American Slang. The entry:
fall guy n. l. Originally Underworld, a person who must take the blame
for the actions of confederates; (broadly, now commonly) a scapegoat.
1904 A. H. Lewis /Prseident 420/ Dan used to be a strong-arm man
himself, but since he's got this joint, he ... has turned fall-guy for a
fleet [of pickpockets] that operates along the Bowery.
[Remaining citations 1908, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1919, 1923, 1948, 1961,
1970, 1987, 1987.]
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
tinwhistler
[snip]
> Yes, I own the book, which I usually call the Random House Historical
> Dictionary of American Slang. The entry:
[snip]
Thanks very much. I'm thinking that the prevalent fixing of boxing
matches, one guy to take a fall for cash paid by an underworld fixer,
was probably the frame of reference for the usage -- even though
there's no specific context for that in the 1904 citation. The
underworld origin is clearly supported.
John Dean
> tinwhistler wrote:
>> A current Wiki article dates the origin of the phrase, "fall guy," to
>> the 1920s; see
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_guy
>>
>> However, Safire in today's NYTimes Mag says Lighter's HDAS has a
>> citation back to 1904 (without Safire's sharing such citation). I've
>> done some searching for an antedate, but am rather daunted by the
>> Wiki article etc. Would someone be willing to (1) share the 1904
>> citation, (2) research further for an antedate, or (3) do both 1 and
>> 2? Thanks in advance.
>
> Chapman's revision of Wentworth & Flexner (1995) dates it to "by 1906"
> without giving a supporting citation.
>
> Green gives us the background for the Wiki article as
> "According to Bentley & Corbett there was a real-life /fall guy/,
> Albert Bacon Fall (1861-1944) who in 1922 took upon himself the
> entire blame for the Teapot Dome Scandal; despite the involvement
> of many top government officials, Fall was the only one to serve
> time, a sentence of one year and one day; this, however, does not
> match the OED first citation, 1906."
>
> I have removed OED from my computer, so cannot give you that citation.
> Green's text suggests that someone with an OED may be able to give you
> the 1906 citation, if not the 1904 one.
>
Uh huh.
Here's what those Oxford guys have as early cites:
" 1906 H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 226, I never thought I'd be the
*fall guy for such raw work as this. 1912 G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to
Society ix. 293 We ain't goin' to be th' 'fall guys' for Steve.+ If we've
got to do time, so has he! 1929 'C. G. Gordon' Crooks Underworld 118 The
grafter becomes the 'fall guy', and the solicitors ensure immunity from
scandal by falling back on the dignity of their profession. "
Of course, over here we usually call him the autumn chap.
So, why did you take OED off your machine?
--
John Dean
Oxford
tinwhistler
[snip]
> So, why did you take OED off your machine?
[snip]
It's still there, and you're quite right, I should have referred to
its 1906 citation rather than Wiki's "1920s" reference. Out of
laziness, probably, I didn't consult the master resource after seeing
the Wiki piece.
Pat Durkin
"tinwhistler" <ozzie...@post.harvard.edu> wrote in message
news:1175459727....@n76g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
I agree. Taking the fall for someone (falling on his sword, in a more
classic context) does bring to mind a fixed boxing match.
John Dean
> On Apr 1, 4:25 pm, "John Dean" <john-d...@fraglineone.net> wrote:
> [snip]
>
>> So, why did you take OED off your machine?
> [snip]
>
>
> It's still there, and you're quite right,
I was asking Martin, actually, because he said he's taken it off his
machine.
--
John Dean
Oxford