"send s.o. over"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Probably geographical, and I suspect the same for "send over."

  JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: "send s.o. over"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 7:44 AM -0700 4/20/08, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>It meant "to send to prison." Partridge cites an 1860 British ex.
>(unfortunately w/o the quotation or page no.) from "Charles Martel
>_The Detective's Note-Book_ (London: Ward and Lock). In the U.S.,
>there's:
>
> 1872 Burnham _Memoirs of the United States Secret Service_ 86: The
>result was the whole concern was nabbed, and two or three of the
>operators were "sent over."
>
> Cf. more frequent syn. "send up [the river]."

Is that version derivable from the geography of the Hudson River and
the location of Sing Sing (in Ossining, literally upriver from NYC),
or is that an etymythology?

LH

> Hammett's generation of "ops" seems to have been the last to use
>this expression.
>
> I've ordered Martel on ILL.
>
> JL
>
>
>
>
>Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
>Subject: Re: "send s.o. over"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Joel S. Berson 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,"
>>
>> I always thought it meant "send you to the Great Beyond" -- that is,
>> to the electric chair (or whatever California used then).
>
>That wouldn't make sense in context. 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."
>-----
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
>Try it now.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org