German Words 1939-45

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 1 May 2003, James A. Landau wrote:

> Does anyone have an etymology for "flack" (meaning a spokesperson)?  I can't
> help wondering if the derivation is that a flack takes a lot of flak, or
> perhaps puts a lot of dangerous words into the air.

I "solved" this one, as Barry would say, in a note in American Speech some
years ago.  The evidence indicates that it derives from Gene Flack, a
movie publicist.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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