Click here for AnswerPool.com Home page




Google

    AnswerPool.com  Hop To Forum Categories  News & Reference  Hop To Forums  Words & Language    "FallGuys" who are they?

Moderators: Koz
Go
Post
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
  Login/Join 
Diamond Enthusiast

Picture of bedstor
Posted
Another name for a mug ,fool or Patsy is Fall-Guy (not the stuntman)
Any ideas how old this term is and who coined it ,origins...
The M/W is useless on this Frown
 
Posts: 13109 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Site
Administrator
Picture of DorianGreyed
Posted Hide Post
A fall guy is a scapegoat, a person who takes the blame for someone else's actions, or someone at the butt of jokes. One placed in the position of fall guy is often referred to as "taking the fall". In the film industry, a fall guy is a form of stock character.


Origin

The word's origin dates back to the 1920s, during the administration of U.S. President Warren G. Harding (1921 - 1923). The term is allegedly named for Albert B. Fall, a U.S. Senator from New Mexico who served as Secretary of the Interior during Harding's years in office and became notorious for his involvement in the infamous Teapot Dome Scandal. - Wikipedia.org
--------
I am not sure I buy this story.
 
Posts: 16990 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Diamond Enthusiast

Picture of bedstor
Posted Hide Post
Never heard of this part of US history DG
Sounds almost like the present day scandals Smile
quote:
Perhaps, the worst scandal of Harding’s administration was the Teapot Dome Scandal, named for the Teapot Dome oilfield in Wyoming. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, a Kentuckian, rented government lands to oil companies in return for personal loans and gifts. The land in question existed in California and Wyoming. The federal government currently was holding oil under this land as a reserve for the United States Navy, but Fall decided to lease the land illegally to Mammoth Oil Company and to the Pan American Petroleum Company in return for the personal loans. In the end, Fall received approximately 404,000 dollars in loans or gifts from these two oil companies. Eventually the United States Senate launched an investigation of Fall’s actions. He was found guilty of accepting money in return for the oil leases. Fall was convicted, fined 100,000 dollars and sentenced to one year in prison. The oilfields were returned to the United States Navy.

Further question, Are these oilfields still in production?
 
Posts: 13109 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Diamond
Enthusiast

Posted Hide Post
My regular reference for word origins is Etymology online because the online Webster isn't very good. It doesn't give much help for this particular term, but does date it from 1906, so Albert B. Fall at best popularized an existing term.

The following links give possible origins, but I certainly wouldn't count on their accuracy:
1
2
 
Posts: 5891 | Location: Indiana | Registered: 06-13-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Site
Administrator
Picture of DorianGreyed
Posted Hide Post
Methos' link #1 gives an explanation that shows an almost complete lack of knowledge of the history of professional wrestling in the United States.
 
Posts: 16990 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
 Previous Topic | Next Topic powered by eve community  
 

    AnswerPool.com  Hop To Forum Categories  News & Reference  Hop To Forums  Words & Language    "FallGuys" who are they?

© 2002-2008 AnswerPool.com



Visit DiscussionPool.com!