Shuysters and Skinners (1845)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 09:16:56 -0500, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
wrote:
>
>Benjamin Zimmer's spottings of early attestations are always interesting.
>His 1845 "shuyster" below is only the second example I have of this term
>being spelled with "-uy-."  The other example is from 1856, cited in
>Craigie-Hulbert's _Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles._

There's another cite for "shuyster" on N-archive, in a reprinted letter
from a Civil War soldier who fought at Gettsyburg (no date given, but
presumably 1863).  The letter was in the possession of the soldier's
great-grandson.

-----
_Gettysburg Times_ (Pa.), Aug. 2, 1990, p. 5A, col. 2
[Lt. Isaac Newton Durboraw:] "I did not find many of the people in the
neighborhood at their homes, and their houses were occupied by skulkers
and shuysters absent from their commands. When I got back to the company I
shared out the contents of my haversack, and when we marched that night,
it was empty."
-----

>  Also, btw, Mr. Van Witherem in the passage below is most likely a
>fictitious name, invented to add to the humor (based on the verb
>"wither," i.e., his words (humorously) had a withering effect on those
>he criticized; and -em = them.) Cf. the names in the modern (fictitious)
>lawfirm Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe.

That's right.  Other names given to the "sucking" (i.e., 'budding')
lawyers in the story are: Shearem & Fishhoek, Puffendorf, Littleton Leach,
Blackstone Woodcock, Spoonbill, Pettimus, and Foggum.

>>-----
>>_Tioga Eagle_ (Wellsboro, Pa.), Feb. 26, 1845, p. 1, col. 3 "Festival
>>of the Sucking Lawyers"
>>...
>>Mr. Van Witherem rose to give as an irregular toast: 'The Shuysters
>>and Skinners of the Tombs -- it is true they were the outsiders of the
>>profession, but still as they hung to the _skirts_ of the regulars, and
>>had been partakers of the _fleece_, he did not see how they could
>>suffer such sharp practice to be _shorn_ of every _shred_ of the usual
>>honors.' -- Here the president interposed and insisted that the Skinners
>>and Shuysters had brought the profession into disgrace, and ought to be
>>scratched out by a _bar_ sinister.
>>-----


--Ben Zimmer