shyster, you

shyster, you
   In The Middle Man, by David Chandler, a speaker says to an American lawyer: ‘You help me? You shyster! You mouthpiece for crooks and hoodlums!’ The second vocative expression here aptly glosses the first, since ‘shyster’ is used of a dishonest or otherwise contemptible lawyer in American slang.
   Amongst the origins suggested for the word, the most likely is a derivation from German Scheisser, ‘shitter’. Some have tried to blame a Mr Scheuster, who practised law in New York in the nineteenth century, for the subsequent use of the word. Others have said that prisoners were advised to ‘fight shy of’, avoid, lawyers.
   Perhaps the combination of all three pos sible sources made the term seem particularly suitable, since it is well-established. The word is also used in Britain.

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

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