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  • Thieves and scoundrels

    Jun 19, 2013 | 0 Comments

    The dictionary records 'forty' in the sense of 'a thief or scoundrel' and gives the following etymology: 

    from the Fitzroy Forty, a Melbourne gang of thieves named after Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, in The Arabian Nights' Entertainment. 

    However, our visiting lexicographer, Les Murray, told us... Read more