? about toffsman?

Question for Mr, Feist,

Is toffsman a real term to describe someone who searches through sewer
refuse for valuables or is it made-up?

I googled it and came up empty.


Thanks in advance.

In article <10lrp9fm63pjqef.RemoveThis@corp.supernews.com>, Orlun <tim.RemoveThis@buck.to>
wrote:

 > Question for Mr, Feist,
 >
 > Is toffsman a real term to describe someone who searches through sewer
 > refuse for valuables or is it made-up?
 >
 > I googled it and came up empty.
 >
 >
 > Thanks in advance.
 >
 >
 >

It's slang, from the Victorian Era, and it's cockney, so I have no
doubt you came up blank on Google. A "toff" is a fancy dressed man, so
with the Cockney's usual taste for irony, a "toffsman" is a guy who's
sloggs through the sewer. Why the floating stuff is called "toff" is
beyond me. I found the term in a book on Victorial criminal slang,
years ago. I can't even remember the title.

Best, R.E.F.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->