pawn off

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/23/2007 10:36 PM, AM wrote:
>  I suppose this "pawn" is more closely related to the pawnshop than to the
>chessboard.  If so,does the fooling/cheating  aspect of " pawning off" say
>anything about pawnshop transactions?  If so, who is cheating whom?
>[I should admit that learning of the legitimacy of this expression is
>rather discomforting, since I have always insisted that it was an
>error,along with "honing" for homing.]

I wondered about this also.  If "pawn off" is indeed as old as or
older than "palm off", did it derive from the pawnshop?  Although, as
AM observes, one would expect the pawnshop-keeper to want more value
in the security than he lent out.  Or is it the shopkeeper who is
pawing off on the borrower?

Joel

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