Comments on: Big Mahoff

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>>>

By: pj

pj — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:37:26 +0000

I’m a Philly native and I was working in Bergen County, NJ years ago and used Big mahoff once and got blank stares from the half dozen people I was talking to-they never heard the term.
I later used the word “jeff” to describe my hat and got blank stares again-they never heard that either.
Does anybody know where “jeff” used for a hat came from and this too appears to be a Phillyism.

By: Jeff Shear

Jeff Shear — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:43:06 +0000

Yo! And how is it we pronounce Coca-Cola? I think you would be spelled Coewka-Cowela

By: Lee Adler

Lee Adler — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:51:30 +0000

Do you know why day trippers down the shore were called shoobies? It’s because back in the old days they brought their lunch in a shoebox. I know this because when I was a kid I worked at the 9th Street parking lot in Ocean City in 1967, and there was a clam and oyster bar there called the Shoobie Shack, and I asked old Westy, the owner of the lot, who was near 90 at the time, why they called it that, and he told me the story. Had to be true. He was a local from way, way, way back.

Really sad about Mack and Mancos, though. The name may change, but everybody will still call it Mack and Mancos. Sort of like East River Drive and Wissahickon Drive, and Delaware Avenue.

“Columbus Blvd?”

Please.

And then there’s Moyamensing Avenue. Who here can tell us what that means?

By: Ross L

Ross L — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:38:17 +0000

James is or was a Phila area guy at some point. There is a hometown museum honoring him less than an hour away. Same thing with Pearl S Buck but she never used the term.

By: doranb

doranb — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:58:23 +0000

In James Michener’s 1982 novel “Space” one of the characters says his father is “a mahoof at NASA.” Note the spelling, two o’s and one f. From the context it’s clear he means something like “bigwig.”

By: Lou Forgione

Lou Forgione — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:50:24 +0000

Growing up in South Philly in the 40′s and 50′s we would call the sewer the coal bin, the side walk was called the “payment”, and when we went to the Jersey Shore we described it as going “downashore”, and last but not least we called famous people “Big Mahoffs”. Where that Mahoff word came from I’ll never know. The funniest thing was after playing outside all day we would come in the house to cool off by eating watermelon and drink iced tea and the “Big Mahoffs” had window fans and I’ll never forget when we finally had one in our house. It was like fresh air from heaven. Oh those were the days my friend. Who can forget the men selling bleach from their horse and wagons along with the iceman, the milk man, the dry cleaner man, the insurance man, the knife and sciccors sharepening man and almost forgot the umbrella man and egg man. The real treat in the 40′s and 50′s was the waffle man with his hot ice to keep the vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream ice cold along with his gas burner to make the waffles and serve waffles and ice cream sandwiches……mmmmmmmmmm good! Another goodie was going to the Acame (acme) which is still referred to that to this day.

By: Mike S.

Mike S. — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:03:13 +0000

Baloney is NEVER EVER put on a Zep made in Norristown!
Your dear old mom must not have had a real Zep.

A Norristown, PA Zep is cooked salami, provolone cheese, tomatoe, onion, salt, pepper and oregano, and maybe hot peppers, that’s it… NO lettuce, nothing else.

By: Jim Callahan

Jim Callahan — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 23:08:32 +0000

If ‘mahoff” has a Hindi origin involving elephants, it may have something to do with the Philadelphia A’s baseball team. The mascot of the A’s was an elephant, and the A’s were the more popular baseball team in Philly in the early decades of the 20th Century over the Phillies.

By: Michael J.

Michael J. — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:26:57 +0000

Baloney is put on Zeps in Norristown, a local and cheaper sandwhich most likely from the 1930′s. My “Dear Old Mom” talked about them.

By: Steven Capsuto

Steven Capsuto — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:39:50 +0000

Wow, it never occurred to me that this might be a localism. I’m a Philly native and have used this expression most of my life. In fact, was about to use it in a text for publication (which I guess I won’t do now that I know it’s not widely understood).

Oh well… I suppose I’ll have to put “the big cheese” (mmmmm…. cheese…. cheesesteaks…..).

And yes, “macher” (in this sense) comes from Yiddish!