Talk:barber

What does "hist." mean in the Czech translation? Is this a historical term or an archaic one? — Paul G 08:48, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

A barber's cat

John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1873) intriguingly lists "barber's cat, a half-starved sickly-looking person. Term used in connexion with an expression too coarse to print." In Google Books I can find a few phrases of the form "___ as a barber's cat", but they are nearly all uniquely different: "thin as a barber's cat", "full of nerves as...", "full of questions as...", "about as much expression as...", "restless as...", "full of conceit as..." Equinox ◑ 20:25, 31 March 2021 (UTC)

Two missing baseball senses?

The Wonderful Words of Sports (1973, by T. R. St. George, page 2) says: "A baseball player who talks a lot is called a barber. This is because real barbers are supposed to talk a lot while they are cutting people's hair. A baseball pitcher who throws the ball close to a batter's head is called a barber, too." In the latter sense, The Barber was a nickname of Sal Maglie. Equinox ◑ 21:13, 2 May 2021 (UTC)