slum

[Wilson Gray]

Somewhere or other, I read that, among many others, SH-L-M has the
meaning, "get a haircut." I've long wondered whether this was true or
B-S.

-Wilson

On 7/12/07, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: slum
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Fwiw, Hebrew has a root SH-L-M =3D pay.  Is there any possibility of =
> this root making its way into English cant as "slum" in its monetary =
> sense?
> =20
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Douglas G. Wilson
> Sent: Wed 7/11/2007 11:01 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: slum
>
>
>
> >Relevant to the meaning of "dollar," though not very enlightening
> >and not found elsewhere:
> >
> >   1859 George W. Matsell _Vocabulum_ (N.Y.: Matsell) 61: SLUM. A
> > package of bank bills; a low drinking-place.  SLUMING [sic].
> > Passing spurious bills. SLUMMING. Stealing packages of bank-bills.
>
> _Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words_, 2nd ed. (John
> Camden Hotten, London, 1860): p. 219: <<SLUMMING, passing bad
> money.>> (some slightly later versions apparently are found at Google =
> Books)
>
> Farmer and Henley give some senses of "slum" approximating =
> "counterfeit".
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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