"schvindler"

[Alison Murie]

On Mar 29, 2009, at 9:11 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "schvindler"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 7:01 PM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net>
> wrote:
>>
>> New Oxford American Dictionary has the following:
>> swindler |=CB=88sw=C9=AAndl=C9=99r| noun
>> ORIGIN late 18th cent.: back-formation from swindler, from German =20
>> Schwindler =E2=80=98extravagant
>> makerof schemes, swindler,=E2=80=99 from schwindeln =E2=80=98be =
>> giddy,=E2=80=99 also =20
>> [tell lies.]
>> AM=
>
> Wait a minute. ... That works out to
>
>> New Oxford American Dictionary has the following:
>> swindler || noun
>> ORIGIN late 18th cent.: back-formation from swindler, from German
>> Schwindler extravagant
>> makerof schemes, swindler, from schwindeln
>> giddy,also
>> [tell lies.]
>
> How is "swindler" a back-formation from "swindler"? "Swindle", sure,
> but this sounds... well, like an action often mentioned in the
> imperative and sometimes described as "obscene and impossible".
>
> m a m
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know how all those horrible cyber scats got into my innocent
post.  I haven't (wittingly) made any changes in my mail preferences.
I hope it won't continue.
AM

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