"Jew(ish) lightning"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

I think I first heard "Jewish lightning" (referring to arson for
insurance fraud) in the mid 1960's ... but of course memory is quite
fallible. Surely the expression seemed old-fashioned to me when I first
heard it, and I'm not sure I've heard it in the last 30 years.

In Wendy A. Woloson's recent book _In Hock_ (p.148) (searchable-inside
via Amazon): <<by the turn of the century everyone knew such arson as
"Jewish lightning.">>. There are footnotes but I'm not sure there is one
for this exact assertion. "Turn of the century" apparently means 1900 or so.

-- Doug Wilson

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