Hitchcock's McGuffin story possibly derived from a story about an imaginary mongoose

[Victor Steinbok]

My assumption all along was that this was meant to apply to random gifts
given at disproportionately early times relative to the Xmas season. So,
if someone gives you a gift in August and tells you that it's your Xmas
present and not to be opened until Xmas, that's a McGuffin.

     VS-)

On 10/27/2010 8:22 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> Jonathan Lighter wrote
>> Surely "McGuffin" never really "meant" a "gift not to be opened till
>> Christmas" to any statistically significant number of people.
> The definition of McGuffin provided by Robert Haven Schauffler seems
> odd to me. In my cultural experience as a child and as an adult gift
> giver almost all gifts during the Christmas season were supposed to be
> opened on Christmas day. Thus almost all gifts would be labeled
> McGuffin's. Using a distinctive sounding appellation to designate a
> gift opened according to a commonplace protocol might be an impediment
> to adoption.

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