"Clam" (slang term for Scientologist)

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 10 May 1999, Barry A. Popik wrote:

>       Someone wrote that the shooters were "clams" (Scientologists).  There
> were 1400 hits for "clam"/"Scientologist" on the Usenet database.  Why no
> entry in the RHHDAS?  How old is the term?  Is it because its members are
> secretive?

Does this mean that Scientologists were called "clams" 1400 times, or
that the role of clams in Scientologist mythology was mentioned 1400
times?


Fred R. Shapiro                             Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
Associate Librarian for Public Services     TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
Yale Law School                             Oxford University Press, 1998
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               ISBN 0-19-509547-2