“[I]f you are going to do any snatching, you cannot
snatch just anybody. You must know who you are snatching, because naturally it
is no good snatching somebody who does not have any scratch to settle with. And
you cannot tell by the way a party looks or how he lives in town if he has any
scratch, because many a party who is around in automobiles, and wearing good
clothes, and chucking quite a swell is nothing but the phonus bolonus and does
not have any real scratch whatever.”—Short-story writer and journalist Damon
Runyon (1880-1946), “The Snatching of Bookie Bob,” in Guys and Dolls and Other Writings
(2008)
I can think of one “phonus bolonus” right now. (I
bet you can, too!)
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