Word: cumshaw
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...humor will secretly be tickled by the spectacle of these two cooped up together on shipboard; 2) the President would rather take them along with him than leave them in Washington to raise Ned during his absence; 3) just as an Oriental potentate uses his viziers to scatter cumshaw to the multitude, the President could use his two prime Relievers to make his tour a happy one by promising Federal gold at strategic points en route...
Speaking of words, "cumshaw" (generally pronounced commishaw) is not restricted to shipping men. Chinese servants in the East are all accustomed to getting cumshaw. The Chino cook buys the groceries for the household and if he does not get his cumshaw from the dealer at the end of the month, he buys elsewhere. This practice is generally considered quite ethical. "Cumshaw'' is Pidgin English and evidently is derived from "commission...
Shipping men, John T. Flynn explains, have a special word for graft-"Cumshaw." When a captain, after being entertained lavishly by a chandler, gives an order to him, it is "Cumshaw...
...Cumshaw" is not of course limited to the sea. Big graft and little graft run through the entire commercial structure. In Graft in Business, published last week by Vanguard Press ($3), Author Flynn goes into the matter. Part of the book deals with petty graft by corporation officials, tells of no practices one does not know or suspect to exist. Typical example : a Victor Talking Machine Co. superintendent who changed glue brands when offered a 5% commission...