"shambo" (was " Charlie")--Why "sham"?

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 11, 2004, at 5:02 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard 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: "shambo" (was " Charlie")--Why "sham"?
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>    The sneak attack was real, of course.  The sham would be in the
> misleading impression prior to Dec. 7, 1941 that Japan would remain
> peaceful toward the U.S.
>            Admittedly the word play of altering "Sambo" to "shambo"
> (assuming this
>         actually occurred) is weak. Maybe that's why the term never
> caught on.
>
>              Again, all this is speculative. Still, if a hunt through
> all the etymological
>         nooks and crannies fails to turn up a convincing source of
> "shambo," maybe
>         "Sambo" needs to be reconsidered. He was after all small and
> non-white, and
>         maybe that's all that was needed to trigger the term (however
> the change
>         of initial "s" to "sh" occurred).
>
>         Very tentatively yours,
>         Gerald Cohen
>

As long as we're still stabbing in the dark, how about this? Part of
the WWII stereotype of the Japanese soldiers was that they were short,
had more space than normal between the big toe and the second toe from
a lifetime of wearing thong sandals, and were extremely bowlegged, so
that they had a shambling gait. These features were major clues to the
source of footprints found in the sand on an episode of "Hop Harrigan."
Hence, "shamble" plus "Sambo" = "shambo."

-Wilson Gray

>> ----------
>> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent:         Sunday, October 10, 2004 10:12 PM
>> Subject:           Re: "shambo" (was " Charlie")--Why "sham"?
>>
>> No, a sham attack and a sneak attack are two different things, I'd
>> say.
>>
>> "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard"
>> Subject: Re: "shambo" (was " Charlie")--Why "sham"?
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------
>>
>> Still just guessing: How about "sham" (dishonest, phony), with
>> reference to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor? Btw, Sambo was "little
>> black Sambo." The Japanese, while not black, are not white either,
>> and they tend to be of shorter physical stature than many of their
>> American counterparts.
>>
>> Gerald Cohen
>>
>         <snip>
>