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Japanese
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05:11 |
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J01 |
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Words and Their Stories -- a program about special American expressions.
Every word has a history. The word, "sucker," has a long history. A sucker
is one who is easily fooled, easily tricked, and cheated. There are
several ideas as to how the word, "sucker," came into use.
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J02 |
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One goes back to the early European settlers in America. The story is told
that they found in the lakes and rivers of the new land strange fish,
kinds that they had never seen before -- one kind especially, a small fish
that swam in deep water and sucked up food from the river bottom. It could
do this because of the shape of its mouth. The settlers began to call this
fish a sucker. After a time, they discovered many other kinds of fish that
got food by sucking it into its mouth. They also were called suckers. So,
suckers were found everywhere, and even the worst fisher-man could catch a
sucker. In time, the word was used to describe an easy victim.
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Another explanation, however, is that the word came from the idea of
someone being sucked into something without knowing it as a person who is
sucked into some tricky business or scheme and is fooled and cheated. As
far back as 1842, for example, there was a newspaper story about a coach
driver who told a would-be passenger, "I do not have to drive anybody in
the middle of the night, so don't try to suck me in." And there was a
newspaper report about a sermon in church. The preacher said, "I can't
help but say it: Life is all moonshine -- a monstrous humbug, a grand
suck-in."
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J04 |
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A third and more recent explanation is that the word, "sucker," was coined
to describe someone as trusting and innocent as a suckling, a young
creature still sucking at its mother's breast. Of course, it would not be
difficult to fool such a person.
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J05 |
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The word, "sucker," was given popular fame by an American showman, P.T.
Barnum. He said that there was a sucker born every minute. To Barnum,
anybody who paid good money to see his freak show was a sucker and
deserved to be tricked. Barnum should have said kinder words about these
people. They may have been suckers, but they made his show successful.
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J06 |
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Modern society has discovered a new kind of sucker, sometimes called an
angel. Such is one who can be talked or sucked in to giving money to
support some project. It may be a political campaign, a cause, or an
organization; or it may be a new play. There are as many projects as there
are suckers to support them. Specialists and staffs work hard to develop
what has become known as sucker lists with the names of people who may
have money to give away.
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J07 |
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One newspaper, The Philadelphia Bulletin, said at one time that the
telephone directory is not intended to be a sucker list, but a smart
operator can use it for one. This is a frightening thought. Millions of us
have telephones, and each one of us is a promising candidate for some
sucker list. We cannot, therefore, be too hard on suckers. They and we are
part of modern life.
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Voice of America
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