"send s.o. over"

[Mark Mandel]

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 8:25 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:

> On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 8:01 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > At 4/19/2008 05:40 PM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
> >  > >"Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over," Humphrey Bogart says to Mary
> >  > >Astor in The Maltese Falcon. In context, it's clear that what he
> >  > >means is "turn you in to the police,"
> [snip]
> > From John Huston's screenplay:
> >
> >  -----
> >  http://www.filmsite.org/malt4.html
> >  Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off
> >  with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20
> >  years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember
> >  you.
> >  -----
> >
> >  That's taken almost verbatim from the Hammett novel:
> >
> >  -----
> >  http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader?asin=0752865331
> >  He said: "I'm going to send you over. The chances are you'll get off
> >  with life. That means you'll be out again in twenty years. You're an
> >  angel. I'll wait for you." He cleared his throat. "If they hang you,
> >  I'll always remember you."
> >  -----
>
> Hammett was apparently a fan of the expression. A bit later on in the
> novel, Sam tells Brigid:
>
> -----
> "Well, if I send you over I'll be sorry as hell—I'll have some rotten
> nights— but that'll pass."
> -----
>
> And here's a passage from "The Big Knockover" (first published in
> 1927, two years before "The Maltese Falcon"):
>
> -----
> Paddy -- an amiable con man who looked like the King of Spain --
> showed me his big white teeth in a smile,  pushed a chair out for me
> with one foot, and told the girl who shared his table: "Nellie, meet
> the biggest-hearted dick in San Francisco.  This little fat guy will
> do anything for anybody, if only he can send 'em over for life in the
> end."
>

The last one evidently = "send them up", i.e., get them convicted and
imprisoned.


-- 
Mark Mandel