# Etymology of "Short-fingered vulgarian" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770 "2016-01-11T02:37:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/1 "2016-01-11T02:37:29Z")
“The short-fingered vulgarian” was the epithet hung around the neck of Trump back in the 1980s by SPY magazine, and it remains one of the most euphonious. I never understood what “short-fingered” means. Thieving? Clumsy? Google searches bring me back full circle to the Donald. Can anyone who’s come across the phrase pre-SPY please enlighten us all? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/2 "2016-01-11T02:46:57Z")
“Short-fingered” implies they don’t reach to the bottom of his pockets. That is to say, he’s cheap. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/3 "2016-01-11T02:51:55Z")
I used to work at SPY. It was because he has (or the editors thought he had) stubby fingers. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/4 "2016-01-11T02:52:00Z")
Small hands. Small dick. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/5 "2016-01-11T03:32:10Z")
Long fingers are associated with grace and elegance. Short, stubby fingers are not. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/6 "2016-01-11T03:34:43Z")
I too remember (and cherish) that descriptive phrase, but you have mutilated it. In its full glory–perhaps lost on a national and international audience–it is “short-fingered vulgarian from Queens.” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/7 "2016-01-11T03:37:06Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > “Short-fingered” implies they don’t reach to the bottom of his pockets. That is to say, he’s cheap. I never heard this. It certainly isn’t current in NYC, where the sentence was coined. Are you guessing or is it said around your neck of the woods? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/8 "2016-01-11T03:50:52Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > I used to work at SPY. It was because he has (or the editors thought he had) stubby fingers. I stumbled across SPY with their Yuppie Scum issue, probably the funniest one they ever did. (Which also meant that every issue after was a partial disappointment, an irony Graydon Carter might appreciate.) That was the one with the Michael Graves teapot on the cover, which drew my eye because I had just purchased that exact teapot for my wife. (We were the antithesis of yuppies: she liked tea and needed a new teapot.) Like the National Lampoon, SPY had a wonderful few years and then disappeared up its own affectations. I hope your years were the good ones. For my two cents: everything I’ve read about SPY confirms that the insult was about Trump’s stubby fingers, nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/9 "2016-01-11T17:29:49Z")
Yes, I think it was just an irrelevant but delightful criticism to levy on every first reference to The Donald. Laurence Tisch was also invariably described by SPY as a “churlish dwarf billionaire.” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/10 "2016-01-11T17:51:13Z")
Actual stumpy little fingers = antithesis of grace and elegance. Seems reasonable to me! Thanks, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/11 "2016-01-11T19:45:10Z")
I never said he was a drug kingpin. I said he was El Cheapo ! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/12 "2016-01-11T23:50:40Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Are you guessing or is it said around your neck of the woods? Both 🙂 “Short arms and long pockets” is an old saying here, meaning a cheap person who won’t buy their round of drinks. ISTM this was a minor variation of that. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/13 "2016-01-12T00:13:50Z")
Megan Fox has short, sausage-y fingers too. That’s why I refuse to let her into my bed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/14 "2016-01-12T04:55:51Z")
That’s OK. She’s welcome in mine. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/15 "2016-01-12T15:02:54Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Megan Fox has short, sausage-y fingers too. That’s why I refuse to let her into my bed. I thought it was for eating crackers. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/16 "2016-01-12T15:33:38Z")
As a historical note, SPY was not the first magazine to employ this style. It was stolen in toto from the early Time magazine. Timestyle, the weird syntax, portmanteau words, and adjective-laden prose developed by Briton Hadden (not Henry Luce), had a similar set of pat modifiers for various celebrities. Torpedo-headed dynamo Walter P. Chrysler Hen-shaped Fiorello LaGuardia Duck-hunting dentist Senator Henrik Shipstead Eel-hipped runagade Red Grange Bathyosophical enthusiast the Prince of Monaco (a deep-sea diver) Wild-eyed President Francisco Madero of Mexico Sharp-kneed Megan Fox OK, maybe not that last one. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/17 "2016-01-12T15:38:11Z")
Maybe for all the coverage of the new _Star Wars_ movie we can resurrect “scruffy-looking nerf herder Han Solo”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/18 "2016-01-12T16:28:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It was stolen in toto from the early Time magazine. Who stole it from [Homer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithets_in_Homer). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/19 "2016-01-12T16:33:59Z")
Charles Pierce in Esquire is continuing the tradition, by the way. For example, he always refers to Paul Ryan as a “zombie-eyed granny starver” and Scott Walker as a “goggle-eyed homunculus”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/20 "2016-01-12T17:57:06Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Who stole it from [Homer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithets_in_Homer). I don’t think he used them \*quite \*in the same way that Time or SPY did. > [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Charles Pierce in Esquire is continuing the tradition, by the way. > > For example, he always refers to Paul Ryan as a “zombie-eyed granny starver” and Scott Walker as a “goggle-eyed homunculus”. And everybody else these days. I think all the late night comics are now doing it. [Chris Hardwick on @midnight](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/10/donald-trump-midnight-chris-hardwick) keeps pushing the envelope on what to call Trump, with a topper every night. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770.md?page=2)