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prettygoodwordyeggman (YEG-muhn) or yegg (YEG) - (old slang) n., a safecracker; a burglar; a thug.
This is a start-of-the-20th-century Americanism, first attested in a 1901 New York Times article. Even though yeggman is both more common and has older attestations than yegg, many dictionaries make yegg the main entry, with yeggman as a cross-reference, and insist yeggman was coined from yegg -- either way, though, the origin is entirely obscure (quoth dictionary.com: "the proposals that [yegg] is from German Jäger “hunter” or that it is the surname of a well-known safecracker are both very dubious").
Nothing to do with walruses. (Lennon was very clear that it's specifically Eggman.)
---L.
This is a start-of-the-20th-century Americanism, first attested in a 1901 New York Times article. Even though yeggman is both more common and has older attestations than yegg, many dictionaries make yegg the main entry, with yeggman as a cross-reference, and insist yeggman was coined from yegg -- either way, though, the origin is entirely obscure (quoth dictionary.com: "the proposals that [yegg] is from German Jäger “hunter” or that it is the surname of a well-known safecracker are both very dubious").
Nothing to do with walruses. (Lennon was very clear that it's specifically Eggman.)
---L.
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Date: 2023-09-18 03:01 pm (UTC)Thanks for explaining that one.
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Date: 2023-09-18 08:54 pm (UTC)