Albright College slang (1938) - "stuff for the birds," "schmo hawk"

[Ben Zimmer]

The 1938 article below from the _Reading (Pa.) Eagle_ has a nice
selection of slang from Albright College (coincidentally, Michael
Adams' old stomping grounds). Unfortunately the first paragraph is not
entirely legible, obscuring a sentence with "(stuff) for the birds"
(HDAS 1944).

Further on we learn that "a 'dopey' person is referred to as a 'schmo
hawk'" -- a term that later appears in Saul Bellow's  _Henderson the
Rain King_ (1952) and the Larry David show _Curb Your Enthusiasm_
(2007):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmohawk

This complicates the history of "schmo", previously dated to 1943 (in
a Joe Palooka comic strip I turned up):

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412B&L=ADS-L&P=R13744

Green's Dict of Slang includes this and also has "schmooh" from 1938,
in _I Can Get It For You Wholesale_. So would "schmo hawk" have been
understood in 1938 as a pun on "Mohawk" incorporating "schmo" as a
minced form of "schmuck"? Or does it simply append "schm-" to "Mohawk"
to approximate "schmuck"? In any case, it does seem that the "schmo"
form got a boost from its early use in "schmo hawk".

---
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=77EhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zJsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1892,4467119
_Reading (Pa.) Eagle_, Mar. 20, 1938, p. 7
"Campus Lingo -- The Lexicon of Joe College and Miss Betty Co-ed"

Strange indeed is the campus lingo these days of Joe College and Betty
Co-ed. ... Take, for example, the latest lexicon at Albright College:
[illegible bit about "scrounge" as fraternity brother who cuts in on a dance]
[illegible] doesn't ring true is known at Albright as "stuff for the
birds" while a person, place or thing that is no good has earned the
dubious title of a "hump."
When Joe College refers to the campus co-ed, it's usually "chippie,"
or "scrag." Sometimes she is a "bimb" or "hunk of sneeze," but Betty
Co-ed doesn't mind. She has her own names for the college lads.
If a student wants to study and his room is invaded by his fraternity
or dormitory brothers, he politely tells them to leave by saying in
the inimitable manner that college boys have, "cop a sneak," "cop a
breeze," or "take a powder." A student that has made good in his
examinations has "hit it on the nose," and a freshman is one who
"doesn't know what the score is."
A "dopey" person is referred to as a "schmo hawk," while an obese
person is a "lardy." Joe College says "cut your bumpin'" to the
classmate who wants to be on good terms with the professor and "don't
give me the business" to someone who he thinks is giving him a line.
A short fellow is a "short-wave," the student with flat feet is a
"duck foot," and the fraternity brother who goes home for the week-end
is going to "tear off a little romance" -- presumably with the girl
back home.
Money, which means dollars and cents in any language, is given a
slightly different twist up at Albright. A five dollar bill is a
"finskie," a nickel is a "jit," and a half a dollar is "half a
schnooze," "half a schmier," or a "half a rock." Any fellow that's
broke doesn't have any "cabbage."
Educators are completely stumped by this one. It's "gagooch" --
meaning a bad bridge hand. A kiss, as a rule, always implies romance,
but at college it's a "schnoodler-doodler!"
Coeds give the boys "a cuckoo" when they stand them up on a date.
Students playing a game of cards are known to be "busy in the movies,"
or watching pictures." If you're hungry and decide to go out to eat,
you're "scauffin' it up," and if you go out for a little fun you're
"out on a tear."
Cigarette butts are "savies," examination aids are "cribs," and things
that students can't find a word for are "twitches."
When a student calls up the girl friend for a date it is considered
rather amateurish to ask her is she would care to go out. Now it's
"would you like to pitch-a-little-woo?" or "how's about some muggin'?"
The boy and girl holding hands in the back rows during chapel or class
are known to be "fourth rowing." [etc.]
---

--bgz


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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