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One of our newspaper columnists used the word chumbolone, which I found in Doubled-Tongued Dictionary to be a slang to mean "idiot." It seems to have an Italian etymology. Have you seen it used? Neither Shu nor I have, though our son says he hears it all the time. It isn't in Onelook or the OED. | ||
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I think you've got something circular going on there, as the DTD cites the Chicago Tribune. | |||
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Yes, it seems to be the favourite all-purpose word of the Tribune's columnist John Kass. It also appears on this blog. Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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According to this: It doesn't look like an Italian word, the letter combination ch is pronounced /k/ and only appears in front of the vowels e and i, e.g., che 'who, whom, which' /ke/, chi 'whoever' /ki/. I guess the u is being pronounced as a schwa. The -one ending is an augmentative suffix in Italian (and some related endings in other Romance languages) and usually has pejorative connotations. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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The Double-Tongued Dictionary mentions ciambellone, a kind of Italian cake. | |||
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ciambellone A ciambella is a kind of ring cake, so I guess ciambellone might be some kind of term for doughnut, the favorite food of law enforcement in Chicago and environs. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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I wonder, is chumbolone perhaps a variation of chump turned into cod-Italian? Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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I hadn't gone through all the Google sites, but, you're right, it seems to come from Chicago and especially from that chombolone, John Kass. (I hold my nose every time I read his factless, but opinionated, articles.) | |||
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| <Asa Lovejoy> |
Ask the guys on Car Talk. They know all about being oafish Italians.This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Asa Lovejoy>, | ||
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