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Gamboler Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary

Out-and-out steal


Please, what's the meaning of the following sentence (from an US movie released in 1940):

"Ha!, an out-and-out steal. What a sailor for a blonde that old baby is!"

Context: New York Police Precinct 10th, 1940.

Police Officer 1: Sure, they busted up though, just before she moved uptown. Martin went on the make for Paul Hank. He sent Mary a lot of letters though. She still got them, uh... at least she still had them up to last night.

Head of Homicide Squad: How about Mr. Ronnell?

Police Officer 1: Ha!, an out-and-out steal. What a sailor for a blonde that old baby is!

Head of Homicide Squad (to another officer): Well, that will be all for the present. We'll hold these.
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Mary is a pretty blonde involved in blackmail. There are no sailors in the movie. Ronnel is a rascal and a gambler. Who is the "old baby"? Mary or Ronnell?

I know that "out-and-out" means complete, "steal" means to rob, and "sailor for a blonde" is used sometimes for this type of men that go after blondes when they see one of them... but what about all the sentence putting all words together? Is it some kind of joke? Maybe a word game?
  

Top answer

gamboler, You parsed this correctly, out-and-out steal means that she 'completely robbed him', and tho officer is suggesting that she had an easier time doing this because the guy falls for blondes. "Old baby" is a very weird way of saying something, but since he's answering a direct question about Mr. Ronnell, then I would assume that he's referring to Ronnell.

— Cayuse

  • gamboler, You parsed this correctly, out-and-out steal means that she 'completely robbed him', and tho officer is suggesting that she had an easier time doing this because the guy falls for blondes.
  • "Old baby" is a very weird way of saying something, but since he's answering a direct question about Mr.
  • Ronnell, then I would assume that he's referring to Ronnell.
  • Movies from the 40s (and gangster movies in particular) are full of old slang that is no longer used in contemporary speech.
  • Sometimes its hard for native speakers to even fully understand what they were saying, and we just have to try to suppose the meaning from context.
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2 Answers
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gamboler,

You parsed this correctly, out-and-out steal means that she 'completely robbed him', and tho officer is suggesting that she had an easier time doing this because the guy falls for blondes.

"Old baby" is a very weird way of saying something, but since he's answering a direct question about Mr. Ronnell, then I would assume that he's referring to Ronnell.

Movies f
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Hi,




Please, what's the meaning of the following sentence (from an US movie released in 1940):

"Ha!, an out-and-out steal. What a sailor for a blonde that old baby is!"

Context: New York Police Precinct 10th, 1940.

Police Officer 1: Sure, they busted up though, just before she
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