Slang

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ligonierbill

New member
OK, a couple strange questions. Where did the term "roscoe" come from? I notice one of our members is tote'n one. (Me too, as soon as my permit comes.) And who remembers the term Sean Connery used for a pistol when he confronted Kevin Costner on the bridge in The Untouchables? Maheshka?
 
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tote'n a roscoe

Moderator
you're pack'n a heater
carry'n a rod
or me, tote'n a roscoe
walk'n the dog....

all just mean carrying a gun. as for where they came from, i dont know
 
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KyJim

New member
A couple of dictionary sources indicate it is slang from about 1910 to 1915. One completely unconfirmed source I found thought it came from writer Dashiell Hammett. Hammett once worked as a Pinkerton agent on the infamous Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle rape and murder trials stemming from the death of a woman in 1921 (it was Hollywood's first major scandal of this type). Anyway, Hammett had Detective Sam Spade use the line, ""I jammed the roscoe in his button and said, 'Close your yap, bo, or I squirt metal.'"

The problem with this is that Hammett's first novel was apparently in 1929 which makes this too late for the origin of the term "Roscoe" as slang for gun.

Wikipedia contains an entry on writer Damon Runyon claiming he is the one who originated the term "roscoe" as slang for handgun. He also supposedly coined the term "shiv" for knife and "pineapple" for grenade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Runyon

Take your choice. There's no guarantee as to which one is correct. :)
 
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Mark Milton

Moderator
Sean Connery doesn't know squat about guns, so who knows where that goofy term came from.
Remember, this is the man who looked at a Colt 1911 and said, "That's a Smith and Wesson, you've had your six."

Smith didn't make a 1911 back then.....


As for Roscoe, it was a popular term in the Dan Turner mystery stories and hardboiled stories by Robert Leslie Bellum in the 30s.....

Bellum was fond of having the main characters in his stories say, "My roscoe sneezed kchee, kchee..."
 
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gwnorth

New member
Doesn't help with the origin of the term, but Pale Horse Leather Holsters makes a holster named the "Mohaska". It's designed for the North American Arms (NAA) Mini Revolver line in .22lr and .22 magnum. All I know is that the term mohaska=gun apparently originated in the roaring 1920's. I think it is taken (somehow) originally from a Sioux indian name (or term).
 
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Dave85

New member
Sean Connery doesn't know squat about guns, so who knows where that goofy term came from.
Remember, this is the man who looked at a Colt 1911 and said, "That's a Smith and Wesson, you've had your six."
Click to expand...
Never blame an actor for the words. That is the fault of the writer(s) and the director. And considering the way they shoot the scenes, there is a very good chance he never saw the gun that was used in the shots of the bad guys.
 
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Japle

New member
It comes from Alan "Roscoe" Higgins, the famous Romanian travel writer. He always carried a long-barreled .455 Webley in the pocket of his raincoat, which he never seemed to take off in public.

Higgins was well known all over Europe in the '30s. The practice of carrying a big revolver was forever tied to him and the gun became known as a "Roscoe".
 
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ligonierbill

New member
Since all the rest are taken, I think I'll just "go heeled". The only things I could find on "mohaska" are a county in Iowa and a native American chief somewhere. But slang is hard to trace.
 
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woad_yurt

New member
This thread seems to be winding down quickly, a mere flash in the pan. Happily, no one went off half cocked. Yuk, yuk.
 
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