Baughm Steer

Posted by ESC on January 06, 2009 at 16:11

In Reply to: Baughm Steer posted by Paul Wright on January 05, 2009 at 08:30:

: In the Book " The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiell Hammett the statement is made by Sam Spade - "Would I give you a Baughm Steer?" I am wondering were this spelling comes from bum steer?

One reference links bum steer (false report, 1903) to bummer, the German Bummler, loafer from bummeln, to waste time or loaf. I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976). Page 165. Was Mr. Hammett making a pun and what was it in reference to?