We’ll lighten up today with something I’ve wanted to do for a long time – i.e., help propel a great new word into common English usage. The word is “sneak” -- as in “he’s a sneak guy (or gal)” -- but it doesn’t mean what you’re thinking. For far from describing someone of low character, a “sneak guy” is someone who is supremely accomplished but who would never boast about it. Typically, one would find out about the person’s amazing background in an off-handed way -- perhaps from a relative or third party, but never from the person himself. As far as I can recall, the word was coined in the 1960s by a ZBT fraternity brother of mine, Dave “the Ripper” Shaw. I have never heard the word used by anyone but a Zeeb who attended University of Virginia during the late 1960s. Dave was a year ahead of me, and there were some unusual success stories in his Class of ‘70. “Scheins” went on to become a movie producer of, among other films, For a Few Good Men, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally. And another Zeeb, “Bob K,” managed Bjorn Borg’s tennis career before going on to even bigger things as CEO of the top sports-talent agency in the world. Both were sneak guys, but not because of their spectacular careers. Bob was sneak because he had been a yo-yo champion as a child. He and his brother used to travel to tournaments on one bicycle, so certain were they that one of them would win a second bike for the trip home. And Scheins, a skinny little runt-of-a-guy, was a supremely gifted tennis player, baseball shortstop and touch-football quarterback. Strong as an Ape As for Shaw, he was an athlete, built like a lowland
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