Dick Smith

Posted by ESC on August 23, 2002

In Reply to: Dick Smith posted by Michael Merriman on August 21, 2002

: There seems to be a "link" to San Francisco for the expression "to Dick Smith..." as in "I don't know how he got so drunk; he must be Dick Smith-ing in the kitchen." This means sneaking additional cocktails out of sight of the other guests.

: My father grew up in SF and has always used this expression. He has no idea of its genesis. Now I find that a colleague's family (also San Franciscans) uses the same expression.

: Any idea as to who was the curious Mr. Smith?

I couldn't find "Dick Smith" in any of my regional phrase books. Mr. Smith is probably related to Cooty Brown as in "drunker than..."