Word: cumshaw
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Dates: during 1931-1931
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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...