GUMSHOE-HOW DID WE GET THAT NAME!
From Posts At Private-Eye Mailing List

Started By
Corporate Investigative Services
Huntsville, AL 35803
(205) 881-2598
http://www.hsv.tis.net/~pvteye


From: rmandy <rmandy@ix.netcom.com>
To: pvteye@traveller.com
Subject: Why gumshoe?
Date: Sunday, August 04, 1996 12:39 PM

Hi,
My name is Robert Anderson. My wife just asked me why detectives are
called gumshoes so I thought I would put the internet to task. I'm
trying to prove to her the usefulness of the internet. Can you help?

Thanks
Robert M. Anderson
rmandy@ix.netcom.com


Rex,

Don't you hate it when you get GUM stuck to your shoe !!!!
GUMSHOE because you can't get them off !!!!! (pi's that is) They STICK
with you.


Cindy Taylor
Shaw Investigation Agency
120 Holmes Ave. Suite 101
Huntsville, AL 35801
205-533-1777

The origin of the word "gumshoe" began with the old LEO's/ the soles
of their shoes were made of gum rubber way back then which allowed
them to move quietly and they picked up the name "gumshoe" from that.
The title has been tacked on to detectives, investigators, etc.
Lee Griggs

On Sun, 4 Aug 1996, "Rex Louis Holder, Jr." <pvteye@Traveller.COM>
wrote:
Embarrassed that I could not answer this,any help out there?
Corporate Investigative Services
Huntsville, AL 35803
(205) 881-2598
http://www.hsv.tis.net/~pvteye

Don't you hate it when you get GUM stuck to your shoe !!!!
GUMSHOE because you can't get them off !!!!! (pi's that is) They STICK
with you.

Although I go along with this one as the most plausable, how about
the "gum" in gumshoe being he soft gum material that a PI might have for
soles so he couldn't be heard by the subject as he tailed on foot. Silent
footsteps. When my dad was a Detroit City P.D. Detective in the 30's, he was
referred to as a 'gumshoe' and encouraged to were shoes made with 'gum' soles.
-Scott Barrie


RThomas007@aol.com wrote:

Many years ago I did a little research on this and found that the term
gumshoe started in the days when most private investigators walked the
streets and intervewed people for information so much they always managed to
get gum on their shoes because they were consistly walking in bad
neighborhoods usually in downtown areas where there was no one that cleaned
up the sidewalks. The term caught on in the 40's and 50's in police
departments and Hollywood as a term for private investigator.

Hope this helps:

Ralph Thomas
National Association Of Investigative Specialists, Inc.
http://www.pimall.com/nais/home.html

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