MDMD(1): Notes

[Sojourner]

At 03:09 PM 6/6/97 -0400, Matthew P Wiener wrote:
>>8.18 `Green Brief-Bag' from which we deduce that Uncle Ives is, horror
>>of horrors, a Philadelphia Lawyer!
>
>For those not in the know, "Philadelphia Lawyer" means an especially sharp
>and shrewd lawyer for the defense.  (I don't mean to insult anyone by telling
>him what everybody knows, but a lifelong Philadelphia perspective blinds me
>as to what is local knowledge only.)
>
>My W9C dates it to 1788, and the OED2 doesn't seem to have it.  I vaguely
>recall that it predates the revolution, though, in reference to a famous
>case involving libel against the crown.
>--
>-Matthew P Wiener (weemba at sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)    If Apple owned
> NBC, they would sue Nike for comedy-interface copyright violation.
>
>

Hmm... I seem to remember the classic folk song "Philadelphia Lawyer" by
Woodie Guthrie.  Its meaning is right along this track so sounds like the
definition is fairly universal.  Old Woodie might embellish a song, but he
by god travelled (and forsake his chile) around to get what was on people's
lips...

Willie Nelson does a helluva cover/tribute of this song on "Folkways
Revisited".