Comments on: Big Mahoff

By: pete

pete — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 03:34:36 +0000

There was a Big Mahoff gangster in Philly in the 1920s and 30s named Max Hoff who liked to flaunt his ill-gotten gains with big parties. Since the earliest reference to “Big Mahoff” that someone here found were in 1951 that would line up with this guy when he was famous so I’m thinking this might be a factor. I also like the theory that the Philadelphia A’s mascot elephant and the Big Mahout driver might be part of the puzzle as well morphing with the Big Mahoff Max Hoff to form “Big Mahoff”.

By: Dr. Dan Chandler

Dr. Dan Chandler — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 02:00:49 +0000

We don’t go ” to the beach” either… we go “down the shore”… we go to the “drug store” as opposed to the pharmacy… the “Philly Cheesteak” everywhere but Philadrlphia is a chopped up mess of goo that started as a whole flat thin piece of chip steak … in other words, the meat is intact in a real Philadelphia Cheesteak instead if being chopped to smithereens… also, anywhere we go in the world they know we are from Phila the minute we say the word Water which sort of sounds like ” Worter”.
We call almost everybody Chief- guy to guy, and Auntie Anne’s is an interesting pastry but the real soft Peter zeal come from the guy on the corner with dirty hands.

By: Peter C Funch

Peter C Funch — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 14:47:29 +0000

One December many years ago, looking for a gift for my father, I found a guy at a local mall just outside of Philadelphia with a router and a supply two-foot long notched boards. He would carve any thing you liked on the board. I had him carve “The Big Mahouf” (my misspelling) and I gave it to my dad. He LOVED it, and hung it over his recliner in front of the TV. I now have it hanging from the upper shelf of my computer hutch, and am looking at it now. My Mom and Dad were born in Roxborough (northwestern neighborhood of Philadelphia, and completely understood it.

By: Peter C Funch

Peter C Funch — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 14:43:14 +0000

This sounds very logical – I’d believe it.

By: Peter C Funch

Peter C Funch — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 14:37:56 +0000

I had a Norristown Zep several years ago. If it weren’t for my concern about cholesterol, I’d be there every week for two – one to eat there and one to go. I was flabbergasted when I saw the cook take a very large onion and saw off a thick slab of it for the sandwich – great!

By: jimmy clark

jimmy clark — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 22:22:06 +0000

Well, well, well, whoda a thought? Is whoda another Phillyism?
I’m currently in China were I jokingly referred to the approaching visit by the local party secretary as the big mahoff is coming. The Chinese I said it to, didn’t recognize the word and asked me what a mahoff was, which was to be expected as they are after all, Chinese, and I knew the expression was slang.
I of course couldn’t answer what a mahoff was and my brother led me to your site. Little could I have expected that it was a geographically restricted term, and that despite the elephant drivers explanations etc. I feel no closer to a correct definition as we don’t nor do I think we ever, rode elephants around center city. I’m somewhat aghast that to find out that others don’t use that term, what do they call the middle of their cities?
This is almost as shocking to me as when I first appeared on stage and I was told to curtail my Philadelphia accent. What accent? I replied, I have an accent? I always assumed the way I spoke was how English was intended to be spoken and everyone else had accents.
Well you’ll be happy to know that mahoff is sticking, and the Chinese around me have fervently adopted it. Philadelphianese ueber alles!

By: Aryeh Wood

Aryeh Wood — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 21:27:20 +0000

My father used the word “mahoff” to refer to those who thought they were big deals. More specifically, to the bosses. I thought it might come from some Yiddish or German corruption the “hoff” part referring to high or the court (of the Prince) and the “m-” sound being the Hebrew/Yiddish prefix meaning “from”. Thus the phrase means, “from on high”, with the connotations of snobbery or self-importance. My father, of course, was from Philadelphia.

By: Grandma

Grandma — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:10:43 +0000

I’m from South Philly the term ‘jeff’ was used for a cap style that had a small narrow bill like the one the cartoon character wore. I wrote a post to another website and used mahoff and no one had ever heard it. To make sure I was spelling it right,I googled the word. So glad I came across this site. I did not know pavement was strictly Philly speak. Just like I’ve always said ‘ceeement’ not ‘sament’ for cement. My pronunciation is supposed to be endemic to certain areas of Philly.

By: Bill Noble

Bill Noble — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:14:42 +0000

My dad came from upstate PA and moved to philadelphia after WWII. I was born and raised in NE PHILLY. Still live there. He used BIG MAHOFF all the time. He told me when I was younger that in India they had no construction equipment, so they used elephants to move stuff. So the guy who drove the elephant on top was the BIG MAHOFF and everybody working on that elephant crew had to listen to the BIG MAHOFF. He was the boss.

By: Marge O'Connor

Marge O'Connor — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:35:32 +0000

Moyamensing is a Lenni Lenape word for bird droppings.

By: Howard J. Wilk

Howard J. Wilk — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 03:02:25 +0000

You mentioned that in Philadelphia (and until recently I thought everywhere) “pavement” means simply “sidewalk”. But my daughter took the Pennsylvania driving license written test on which there was a question something about “when is it permissible to drive on the pavement?” She answered “never”, but it was marked wrong, because apparently the prevailing definition in most of the state of “pavement” is “something that is paved”, which includes the street.

By: Jimmy Day

Jimmy Day — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:24:40 +0000

As a kid I heard the term the great Mahoff from a friend of the family he was a WW 2 veteran he was from the hills of KY. and he told me the great Mahoff was a rich french man who spent all his money partying and having fun so i guess we would have to ask some older french people if that is true LOL. I can here my Friend Herbert C. Tucker even now that he has passed on Drunk saying I Am the great MAHOFF Boy LOL>>>