4 ms·

Never would have imagined a mush-faker was an umbrella repairman.

JetSpiegel 9y ago
> having obtained an umbrella to mend, they prefer sitting out doing the work in the street, in front of the house. This attracts the attention of the neighbours, and the fact that they have been entrusted with work by the inhabitants of one house generally brings more custom from those who live next door. When the job is terminated, the mush-faker ” looks about him, as he enters the house, in quest of an umbrella which has passed the mending stage ; and, in exchange for the same, offers to make a slight reduction in his charge. Thus he gradually obtains a stock of very old umbrellas, and by taking the good bits from one old “mushroom” and adding it to another, he is able to make, out of two broken and torn umbrellas, a tolerably stout and serviceable gingham. They went from house to house asking for old umbrellas, and from two old ones they could make a new one.
- richdougherty 9y ago
  Source: https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:vep848coz https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:vep848coz
gumby 9y ago
"Mush" for "mushroom" (slang for umbrella) and "fake" I assume from make (fecit pronounced "fake-it"in Latin which had more weird vestigial remnants than today).
- ljf 9y ago
  Quote: "Mushfake" is a very interesting word. It seems to have first appeared in underworld slang back in the early 19th century in England. "Mush" by itself was, in that period, slang for an umbrella, from its similarity in shape to a mushroom. The verb "to fake" during the same period was criminal slang for "putting something in shape to sell by covering its defects." So a "mushroom faker" or "mushfake" was a con artist who repaired discarded umbrellas just enough to make them briefly functional and then sold them on the street, preferably during a downpour. http://www.word-detective.com/111703.html#mushfake http://www.word-detective.com/111703.html#mushfake
- gerdesj 9y ago
  I used to have a similar approach to yours in trying to derive the meaning of old words. My saddest attempt was where "Yeovil" (where I live in South Somerset, UK) comes from. The river Yeo flows nearby and clearly the town was named after it Yeo-ville. Hah! The village/ham/whatever here was documented as Gifle in around 973 which is an old Saxon (?) word for a bend in a river. Over time and the vagaries of spellings and quite a few changes in vowels and consonant usage, notably G <-> Y, F <-> V. There are something like 50 odd spellings documented for this place over the years since. It would seem the river got its name from the town that got its name from being on a bend in said river. Nearby is Yeovilton - don't even think of trying to derive that one!

> having obtained an umbrella to mend, they prefer sitting out doing the work in the street, in front of the house. This attracts the attention of the neighbours, and the fact that they have been entrusted with work by the inhabitants of one house generally brings more custom from those who live next door. When the job is terminated, the mush-faker ” looks about him, as he enters the house, in quest of an umbrella which has passed the mending stage ; and, in exchange for the same, offers to make a slight reduction in his charge. Thus he gradually obtains a stock of very old umbrellas, and by taking the good bits from one old “mushroom” and adding it to another, he is able to make, out of two broken and torn umbrellas, a tolerably stout and serviceable gingham. They went from house to house asking for old umbrellas, and from two old ones they could make a new one.

richdougherty 9y ago
Source: https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:vep848coz https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:vep848coz

gumby 9y ago

"Mush" for "mushroom" (slang for umbrella) and "fake" I assume from make (fecit pronounced "fake-it"in Latin which had more weird vestigial remnants than today).

ljf 9y ago
Quote: "Mushfake" is a very interesting word. It seems to have first appeared in underworld slang back in the early 19th century in England. "Mush" by itself was, in that period, slang for an umbrella, from its similarity in shape to a mushroom. The verb "to fake" during the same period was criminal slang for "putting something in shape to sell by covering its defects." So a "mushroom faker" or "mushfake" was a con artist who repaired discarded umbrellas just enough to make them briefly functional and then sold them on the street, preferably during a downpour. http://www.word-detective.com/111703.html#mushfake http://www.word-detective.com/111703.html#mushfake
gerdesj 9y ago
I used to have a similar approach to yours in trying to derive the meaning of old words. My saddest attempt was where "Yeovil" (where I live in South Somerset, UK) comes from. The river Yeo flows nearby and clearly the town was named after it Yeo-ville. Hah! The village/ham/whatever here was documented as Gifle in around 973 which is an old Saxon (?) word for a bend in a river. Over time and the vagaries of spellings and quite a few changes in vowels and consonant usage, notably G <-> Y, F <-> V. There are something like 50 odd spellings documented for this place over the years since. It would seem the river got its name from the town that got its name from being on a bend in said river. Nearby is Yeovilton - don't even think of trying to derive that one!