"Scuz" in the courtroom

[Benjamin Zimmer]

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1158858
Defense Wants Client's Nickname Barred
WEST CHESTER, Pa. Sep 25, 2005 — A defense attorney has asked a judge to
bar any references to his client's nickname "Scuz" in his upcoming murder
trial, saying the moniker could negatively influence jurors.
Demetrius "Scuz" Fiorentino, 31, of Coatesville, is charged with the April
2004 robbery and shooting death of Joel "Wellz" Taylor, 19, of Queens,
N.Y., during a botched drug deal in a Coatesville crack house in
Coatesville.
Defense attorney Laurence Harmelin cited the dictionary definition of
scuzzball as "an unpleasant, dirty or dangerous person; creep" and scuzzy
as "dirty, shabby or foul in condition or nature."
Harmelin told Common Pleas Judge Phyllis Streitel on Friday that
connotations of Fiorentino's nickname would prejudice jurors against the
defendant.
Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Finnegan said it would be nearly
impossible for witnesses to identify the defendant without using his
nickname.
"All of these witnesses are going to have to call him by the name they
know," she said. "We're not calling him a scuzzball or scuzzy ... it's
'Scuz' because that is his nickname."
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Those look to be the MWCD11 defs for "scuzzball" and "scuzzy". Too bad
they didn't break out the OED for the definition of "scuz(z)" ("one who or
that which is disgusting or unpleasant").


--Ben Zimmer