Scozzafava

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

I'm wondering about the etymology of this name.  On the Internet I see the following suggestion (http://www.drweevil.org/?p=653): 

I believe scozza fava means "scramble bean" from a game played at fairs that involves a sharpster challenging the marks to find under which shell a bean dyed red is hiding. Of course the mark is always wrong and loses his bet. I believe the English term is "shell game".


Does this etymology seem correct? 

Gerald Cohen


________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of victor steinbok
Sent: Thu 11/5/2009 1:57 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Scozzafava




>From Steve Benen's blog at the washngtonmonthly.com:


The right-wing Tea Party crowd wants to Scozzafava Crist -- yes,
> "Scozzafava" is now a verb -- and the governor, who had developed a
> reputation as a relative moderate, has had to scramble.

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