ATDTDA (2): "just an old gumshoe guy" (45.7)

[Charles Albert]

Just because....



another name for this type of footwear is

"brothelcreepers"....



love,
cfa





On 2/11/07, Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> [...] Lew, I'm just an old gumshoe guy [...] (p. 45).
>
>
>
> [...] [T]he term "gumshoe" was a tribute to the sticking power of a PI --
> "you can't get them off. They stick." Cute explanation, but we weren't sure
> of its veracity. We read on.
> The next theory suggests that the name originated from the gum-rubber
> soles on the shoes worn by detectives and PIs way back when. The rubber
> soles allowed the investigator to move quietly and avoid detection. Sounded
> plausible, but still we persisted in our investigation.
>
> The final theory offered on the page suggested that the term originated
> because private investigators did so much walking in bad neighborhoods to
> interview people and gather information that they inevitably ended up with
> gum on their shoes. Hmmm, sounded a little suspect to us. [...]
>
> http://ask.yahoo.com/20011002.html
>
>
> Originally, gumshoe referred to a shoe with a rubber sole, specifically,
> galoshes or (more relevant to our purposes) sneakers. The senses of gumshoe
> leading to the 'private detective' sense all have to do with the idea that
> rubber-soled shoes give the wearer the ability to walk stealthily.
>
> The earliest examples show gumshoe used as an adjective meaning 'being a
> stealthy or surreptitious thief or tracker', and thus 'being a plainclothes
> police officer or a private detective'. This adjective is first recorded in
> 1900 and occurs a number of times before 1910. A secondary sense of the
> adjective, found at about the same time, is '(of actions or activities)
> carried out stealthily or surreptitiously' (e.g., "No gumshoe democratic
> campaign in Nebraska," from a 1904 newspaper).
>
> The noun in the sense 'a plainclothes police officer; (usually) a private
> detective' is first recorded in 1906, as your source notes. Less frequent
> noun senses are 'a police officer' and the military use 'an intelligence
> officer or a spy'.
>
> Some additional uses: the verb gumshoe 'to come or go stealthily; sneak',
> from 1902; 'to work as a private detective', from 1908; gum, gumfoot,
> gumboot, and gumheel, all meaning 'a private detective; and gumshoe artist
> and gumshoer, both also meaning 'a private detective'.
>
> http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19981110
>
> http://www.word-detective.com/030299.html#gumshoe
>
>
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