Shyster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A shyster (pronounced /ˈʃaɪstər/) is a slang word for someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.^[1]

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Common misspellings 3 Cultural references 4 References

[edit] Etymology

The word is derived from the German verb scheissen, "to defecate" and the English suffix -ster, "one who does". German speaking people consider the word to be the lowest form of insult^{[citation needed]}. Shyster is an alteration of the German Scheißer (a person who is shitting).^[2] Various false etymologies have proposed an anti-Semitic origin, and some people continue to regard the word as referring particularly to Jews or Jewish lawyers.^[3]

[edit] Common misspellings

Shyster has many commonly used alternate spellings, including schister, scheister, sheister, schyster, shister, shaista, shiester, and schiester.

[edit] Cultural references

• In 1932 and 1933, Groucho and Chico Marx starred in a situation comedy named Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel, which depicted the misadventures of a small law firm.
• In The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933), the first of Earl Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason novels, the fictional attorney tells of himself: "If you look me up through some family lawyer or some corporation lawyer, he'll probably tell you that I'm a shyster".
• In the 1981 movie S.O.B. the character Polly Reed calls Dr. Irving Finegarten a shyster. To which Irving replies: "I could sue you for calling me that. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack."
• In a scene from the 1998 spy thriller movie Enemy of the State, one of the gangsters calls Will Smith a shyster, to which Smith responds: "I believe the slur "shyster" is generally reserved for Jewish attorneys. The proper term for someone like myself would be, ermm, eggplant."
• In an 2009 episode of Law and Order: SVU entitled "Lead", Captain Cragen (Dann Florek) tells a couple of his detectives to talk to a hospital representative to find out information about a suit filed against them: "Talk to the hospital, find out what Keppler and his shyster lawyer are up to."
• In Queer Duck; The Movie, a 2006 animated film, the title character is portrayed as working as a nurse in a hospital named "Shyster Extramente." (A veiled satire of the Kaiser Permanente hospital group)
• A Disney character Sylvester Shyster, a disbarred attorney, schemes to deprive Minnie Mouse of her inheritance.

[edit] References