[PW] Re: Cigar Sayings

[Charles L. King]

I don't have any specific sources, other than my memory of my folks
explaining the phrase as from the carnivals, but in "The Pocket Dictionary
of American Slang", by Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner:

"cigar. n. A compliment. From the carnival barker's "give the man a big
cigar," a prize for winning at a game."


Charles L. King
Serials Librarian
Hawaii State Library
478 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96813-2994
http://www.state.hi.us/libraries/hsl/serials.html 

-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
Fred Shapiro
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 5:34 AM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: [PW] Cigar Sayings



1. Close, But No Cigar

Can anyone refer me to any dictionaries, books, articles, or websites that
have 
any kind of discussion of the derivation of this expression?

2. Other Cigar Sayings

I would be interested in suggestions of other quotations, sayings or phrases

related to cigars.  I know, of course, about the Freud quote, the Groucho
Marx 
line about taking his cigar out of his mouth once in a while, the Kipling 
quote, the Mark Twain quote about smoking only one cigar at a time, and the 
quote, supposedly originated by Thomas Marshall, about a good 5 cent cigar.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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