Quoting Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>:
> > Nobody yet has helped me with the odd phrase 'lurch merchant'...
>
> Max:
>
> Possibly "con-man".
>
> 20thC Australian slang has "lurcher", a rascal, a villain, from 16thC
> "lurch" n a cheat or swindle / v to deceive, get the better of. (Green,
> _Cassell/Slang_). Thus a lurch merchant (cf piss artist, spin meister,
> bullshit merchant) would be one who engaged in cheating and swindling.
>
> Robin
Thanks, Robin, that makes sense.
I have to push aside the opening line of an Auden 30s lyric:
O lurcher-loving collier...
[=greyhound or whippet fancier, as I recall]
[forget what comes after that]
Max
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