Talk:shenanigan

Theory, by Irish foghlaimeoir (learner)
I have read in various locations (inc. OED) that this word was first coined in California in the 1850s. Perfectly possible that there will have been Irish speakers there and then, of course. However, it does not strike me as plausible that it comes from sionnachuighm (Irish, to play the fox) as the pronunciation is too far removed. My theory is that this is an English-speaker's reaction to hearing Irish being spoken. Perhaps the most fascinating example of this phenomenon is the song Lili-Bulero, most of which consists of apparent nonsense words, but when you learn that this song was created by the Protestant non-Irish soldiers during the Williamite wars of the 1690s, it becomes clear that the nonsense is in fact a "parody" of what the uncomprehended Irish language (of their opponents) sounded like to their ears. I suggest therefore that "shenanigans" is a conflation of two things: a parody of how Irish words sound, and a reflection of the prejudice about Irishmen getting together in "cabals" and plotting "schemes" to swindle whoever (Englishmen, presumably). I can't prove any of the above, but it makes sense. The word loses none of its power, if this theory is correct, but it does perhaps become a bit imbued with possibly reprehensible anti-Irish stereotyping...

Presenting your information as original research has effectively preordained that it will never see the light of day. 50.134.205.209 12:06, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

XXX
"German slang: schinäglen" Sorry, that's totally wrong, ("shenanigan" so to speak). There's no such word in German language. 217.7.208.63 12:13, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

See OEtyD. DCDuring TALK 13:49, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

what i could imagine is that someone meant the word 'schinden' which actually does mean 'work' but does not sound like shenanigan at all...

Of course there is (See Pfälzisches Wörterbuch) Ba&#39;el 09:55, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

South Park
Was this first used on South Park? DavidFarmbrough 04:37, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * No, it's a much, much older word than that. 188.220.45.177 11:50, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I suspect that the concept of declaring shenanigans (i.e. accusing someone of intentional deception) originated with South Park. Obviously the concept of "shenanigans" as a synonym for hijinks or mischief is verifiably much older. -- RealGrouchy (talk) 01:06, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Sounds Chinese
Around 1850 many chinatowns were raised in west of the usa. Including the San Francisco Chinatown, which of course is in california. 是难你赶 "Shi nan ni gan" means it's hard to catch you in chinese. but a "catch" like in catch something moving away.

是难你敢 "Shi nan ni gan" means it's difficult you dare which could be a part of a sentece. this difficult has also a meaning like unpleasant.

真难你敢 "zhen nan ni gan" would mean "Sad to say you do" which would only make sense in something that follows this sentence.

Anyhow - there are tons of chinese sentences that could contain a part that sounds like shenanigan.

RFV discussion: November 2013–September 2014
There are no citations and the usage examples are in the plural only. If we are going to have a singular entry for what is in most folks' current English a plural-only noun, we should have citations for each sense in the singular. I suspect that usage in speech is minimal, mostly something like "What is a shenanigan anyway?" DCDuring TALK 05:48, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * "Look here, Yewell; this looks like some shenanigan."
 * Of course she has the patience of a flea with fleas, so the instant after the fourth positive test, she called me and scrapped the bun-in-the-oven shenanigan
 * Schilit uses the term to enumerate various accounting malpractices as shenanigan number 1, 2 etc and the shenanigan number # terminology is followed by several other authors eg  and in this cite Enron's three principal tricks as described earlier fit rather well into this analytic scheme: concealing debts by transferring them to de- consolidated SPEs is a variation of shenanigan number 5; evaluating transferred assets at fictitious prices is an example of shenanigan number 3; and improperly recording trading volume as revenue fits into shenanigan number 2. Spinning Spark  13:02, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * The entry "shenanigans has one sense less than "shenanigan". The only translation table provided for "shenanigans" is for the non-existent sense, i.e. the one that is provided in singular only. Somebody's fingers have been faster than his brain. --Hekaheka (talk) 06:02, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
 * The translation table was "borrowed" without modification from the shenanigan entry, along with just about everything else- even interwikis. Just about the only thing they didn't copy was the missing sense. Not all that great a job- they managed to add an "s" to all the instances of shenanigan, but that was about it. Chuck Entz (talk) 06:34, 12 November 2013 (UTC)


 * “Olive, is this a shenanigan?”
 * A pact not to pull another shenanigan on one another, but that didn't include poor ole Harry.
 * The person posting this shenanigan made it clear that the teacher "lived with his mother"
 * All I want is one day—one measly, goddamned day—without you pulling some shenanigan or another
 * Well, I have an idea, Mrs. Gibbon, and just standing here looking at you gives me the impression you're of a nature to enjoy a good shenanigan now and then, am I right?
 * Once the lasso was off and the defense attorney was warned not to pull another shenanigan like that one, and once people had stopped laughing at his use of the word shenanigan, the judge decided to call a quick recess so that everyone could regroup
 * Did you think that your little shenanigan would go unnoticed?
 * Who, uh, who are you, and what kind of shenanigan is this?
 * We could have stopped this whole shenanigan a long time ago
 * It was a shenanigan she had pulled, and they needed to talk, even if she was in for a strong tongue-lashing.
 * Spinning Spark  14:55, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Which of these support which of the three definitions? Two of the definitions would seem to be worded as uncountable ("trickery" and "play"). The citations all fit a definition like "trick". None support the other senses. It is only the other senses that I am familiar with and only in the plural. DCDuring TALK 16:46, 13 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Whenever I read the singular form I feel that the author is playing with the word, ie, that it is a "literary"-type use. I don't think I have ever heard it used in the singular in my life. I'm not entirely alone: at COCA the plural outnumbers the singular 28 to 1; at BNC the count is 36 to 0. But looking at COHA it seems that use of the singular preceded use in the plural and has continued into the present. DCDuring TALK 16:47, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I have converted the RfV of all three senses to an RfV of the singular of the two senses that I know only in the plural. It would be nice to see the citations supporting the singular sense actually where they belong, in the entry, under the definition they support. DCDuring TALK 17:01, 13 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Assuming that the citations above support the one sense that no rfv-sense tag was applied to, I've let it stay, while replacing the other senses with a soft direction to the plural. - -sche (discuss) 06:47, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Good enough. DCDuring TALK 23:34, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
 * BTW, we show shenanigans as plural only, which it apparently isn't. It is sometimes uncountable. It seems to always take a plural verb. DCDuring TALK 00:02, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

It's German, stupid
I would suggest that the word comes from the German "Scheinheiligens". The adjectiv "scheinheilig" is still in common use today, translating as "sham-holy" or hypocritical. The noun in plural is "die Scheinheiligen". An old German form in colloquial language was "die Scheinheiligens", see examples below. (Similar to a better known old form of Leute/people: die Leutgens - see many examples online.) The pronounciation in English would have gone from shenaligans to shenanigans.

No Scheinheiligens, please! - the meaning would have been something like: No tricks, no fakes, no dishonesty, please!


 * Example "Scheinheiligens" of 1799
 * Example "Scheinheiligens" of 1759
 * Example "Leutgens" of 1775

--Hannoverscher (talk) 17:41, 24 October 2019 (UTC)

An earlier mention of the singular term, (Dec 31th, 1934) preceeding the existing one by 9 months
Found this quote from the San Francisco newspaper The Wide West: [Saviourofthe] ୨୧ 17:11, 12 July 2024 (UTC)