avatar! | 1,845 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 I had forgotten that goombah was in the movie and of course most of us know it as a dangerous walking mushroom, but there is a connection https://blogs.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/goomba-goombah-gumba-gumbah/ The earliest sense found in English is ‘a friend or associate’. This is first found in the mid 1950s, and seems to have been popularized by Rocky Graziano . . The second, and most familiar, sense is ‘a mafia boss; a mafioso’, or broadly ‘any organized crime figure’. The first known use of this sense is in Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel The Godfather, the origin, of course, of the movie: [Hollywood producer Jack Woltz tells Ed Hagen:] “I don’t care how many guinea Mafia goombahs come out of the woodwork.” Finally, the English-only sense is ‘a stupid person’, first found in the 1950s but not common until the 1980s. This is presumably based on stereotyped portrayals of low-level mafiosi as ignorant, loutish types. The SMB goombahs are Bower's henchmen and thus I assume fall into the "any organized crime figure" (hitmen...shrooms) types. Although, they are rather stupid too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,792 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 Very interesting read, love it. Thanks for sharing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,105 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 That does make sense, especially with Mario being Italian. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarzombie | 929 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 I figured there was some connection but maybe it was a translation thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,792 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Story time. When I was young, my father used to allegedly get angry at my brother and I for talking gibberish words. Later after looking through a game guide or a box or something, he realised that my brother and I weren't speaking nonsense when we were talking about koopas and goombas. The story is even funnier to me now, seeing as how we also have words goombah and Japanese have kappa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhleo | 2,198 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 From my experiences and basically all of my family on both sides. “Koumbaro” is a term a lot of people use in New York, particularly with Greek and other Mediterranean vendors. The word is also Greek for “Godfather” and in NYC It’s used like this: “Hey Koumbaro, let me get a shishkabob with lemon and hot sauce.” Now put a heavy New York accent on it and it sounds like “Goom bado” New York being a mixing pot and all, the word might have shifted around here and there and voila, Goomba becomes a term used as the way mentioned in the above article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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