Doug in Madison, Wisconsin, remembers that when he was growing up in Philadelphia, his dad used the phrase the big mahoff to refer to someone important. This term that means “the big boss” or “the big cheese,” is largely localized to Philadelphia, although despite lots of inquiry and hypotheses involving everything from mobsters to champion bridge players, its origin remains unknown. This is part of a complete episode.
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Just heard a rerun of this episode and couldn’t help wondering if “big mahoff” may have inspired the titles of Moff and Grand Moff for sector governors in the Galactic Empire of Star Wars lore, though apparently there’s also been speculation it derived from the Muslim term “mufti” for a religious leader/scholar, and/or a Dutch slur “mof” referring to Germans during WWII.