# How do you spell showfor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130 "2024-06-20T19:28:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/21 "2024-06-22T00:14:20Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > There are plenty of French words with that same ending: chanteur, penseur, masseur, derailleur come to mind. “The problem with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.” — falsely (but amusingly) attributed to George W. Bush ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/22 "2024-06-22T04:01:39Z")
“Entrepreneur” meaning “undertaker”. (As in, “one who undertakes”, not “one who runs a funeral home”). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/23 "2024-06-22T04:21:54Z")
I don’t understand the question. I don’t know any words that are pronounced “showfor”. _Shofar_ comes the closest but it’s spelled exactly as it’s pronounced and I have a feeling the OP isn’t refering to a religous object. It could be “chauffeur” like many are guessing, but in that case the OP would have made more sense as “show furr”. Scratch that; still makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/24 "2024-06-22T22:45:32Z")
I think “showfor” in the thread title is spelled correctly. I heard it repeatedly in the '80s. It’s from Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer”. Showfor me I will showfor you ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/25 "2024-06-23T01:40:42Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > That’s also where we get the name for a chafing dish, which keeps food warm at a buffet. Thank you. That derivation has baffled me from a young age. Our OP the person is now deservedly long gone, but the OP he (99% likely a he) left behind has at least done something useful. Thanks to you. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/26 "2024-06-23T04:09:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That derivation has baffled me from a young age. One might say it… Chafed? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/27 "2024-06-23T08:33:24Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > _Shofar_ comes the closest but it’s spelled exactly as it’s pronounced and I have a feeling the OP isn’t refering to a religous object. It While Shofar is pronounced “show-FAR” in Hebrew and often in English, I’ve also heard English-speakers call it a “SHOW-fur”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/28 "2024-06-23T11:42:51Z")
Indeed. It chafed to the point that I refused to use the term just because it annoyed me that it made no sense. An odd little linguistic burr that somehow got stuck under my saddle where it caused outsized irritation. The good news is that I very, very rarely had reason to talk about food service keep-warm gizmos, so the term rarely bubbled up to my conscious. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130/29 "2024-06-23T17:56:48Z")
Seeing the thread title, I can’t help thinking of the old backward golf saying “doughfor putt, showfor drive”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-showfor/1003130.md?page=1)