[Ads-l] Scam etymology

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Jonathon Green's Dictionary of Slang (GDoS) has an entry for the
phrase "what's the scam?" with a first citation in 1971. The sense is
"what's happening". The 1949 excerpt by Earl Wilson (I posted
previously) matches that sense.

[Begin excerpt from GDoS]
what’s the scam?
(US) what’s happening? what’s going on?

1971 [US]  E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
[End excerpt from GDoS]

OED does not have an entry for the phrase "what’s the scam?"

Date: May 18, 1949
Newspaper: Evening Courier
Newspaper Location: Camden, New Jersey
Article: It Happened Last Night
Author: Earl Wilson
Quote Page 35, Column 5
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-courier-scam/199342664/

[Begin excerpt]
"WHAT'S THE SCAM?" Frank said to me.
(Scam's Hollywood slang for "deal," "plot," "news," etc.)
"That's what I want to know," I said.
[End excerpt]

Here is another match for the phrase with the desired sense in 1956.

Date: October 1956
Periodical: Popular Electronics
Volume 5, Issue 4
Article Title: Hi Tide in the Tweeter
Author: Carl Kohler
Start Page 77, Quote Page 125, Column 1
Publisher: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois

https://archive.org/details/sim_popular-electronics_1956-10_5_4/page/124/mode/2up?q=scam

[Begin excerpt]
"WHAT'CHA doing with that gismo on your back, dad?” His youthful face
was a browned question mark. "I've been watching you for more'n hour.
What's the scam, man?"
I explained the scam ... in detail.
"See that there buoy out there?" ...
[End excerpt]

Garson



On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 9:41 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There were three entries for "scamus" in this 1935 dictionary of
> underworld slang. Either the term was ill-defined, or the editor was
> confused.
>
> Date: 1935 Copyright
> Book Title: The Underworld Speaks
> Editor: Albin J. Pollock
> Unnumbered Page
> Publisher: Prevent Crime Bureau, San Francisco, California
>
> https://archive.org/details/underworldspeaks0000albi/page/n113/mode/2up?q=scamus
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Scamus, a jail.
> Scamus, a lewd act.
> Scamus, a vice den.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 9:01 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Widely syndicated gossip columnist Earl Wilson suggested that "scam"
> > was "Hollywood slang" and offered his readers a very different
> > explanation in 1949.
> >
> > Date: May 18, 1949
> > Newspaper: Evening Courier
> > Newspaper Location: Camden, New Jersey
> > Article: It Happened Last Night
> > Author: Earl Wilson
> > Quote Page 35, Column 5
> > Database: Newspapers.com
> >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-courier-scam/199342664/
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > "WHAT'S THE SCAM?" Frank said to me.
> > (Scam's Hollywood slang for "deal," "plot," "news," etc.)
> > "That's what I want to know," I said.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson O'Toole
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 8:45 PM Ben Zimmer
> > <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > Green's Dictionary of Slang has this related sense of the verb "scam":
> > >
> > > ---
> > > https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/ffxh2sa
> > > 4. (US campus, also _scam on_) to go in search of and look over the
> > > opposite sex for casual sex.
> > > 1985 Eble _Campus Sl._ Oct. 9: scam -- to check out [...] Let’s go to the
> > > pit and do some scamming on the guys.
> > > 1992 D. Burke _Street Talk 2_ 2: I can’t believe you’re scamming on that
> > > goob!
> > > 1996 Eble _Sl. and Sociability_ 51: College students, who are perennially
> > > preoccupied with the quest for a partner for romance or sex, _cruise_, _put
> > > it in cruise mode_, _check it out_, _scam_, _scope_, or _troll_.
> > > 2004 T. Fey _Mean Girls_ [movie script] You do not come to a party at my
> > > house with Gretchen and then scam on some poor, innocent girl [...] three
> > > days later.
> > > ---

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