Fall Guy - Origin

Origin

The origin of "fall guy" is currently unknown. Many sources (see below) place the origin at the early 20th century, and some claim an even earlier origin. As such, the origin of the term is a source of open contention. In April 2007, William Safire promoted a search to properly unearth its origins. His follow-up article is here: .

The most likely origin of "fall guy" is a derivation of the slang 'fall' which means to be arrested, so the fall guy is, generally, one who is arrested.

Four slightly different usages for "fall guy" arise. The origins of all four are probably different. The usages are:

1. Scapegoat (innocent).
2. "Betrayed confederate" (guilty scapegoat); here one criminal (willingly or unwillingly) is arrested and sacrificed, while the rest of the criminals go free.
3. Dupe, the fool; the butt of jokes.
4. "One who takes on the responsibilities or workload of others" (see Gary Martin, below). Possibly used in the worker-bee, gruntwork sense. No foul play implied.

The phrase may have originated separately more than once, or the term may have cross-pollinated to different industries, thereby gaining additional meanings. In any case, if the origin of "fall guy" was as the criminal scapegoat, then whenever its written origins were, they are apt to be much later than its first verbalized use, since putting criminal conspiracies into print leads to shorter careers for crooks. Another subtle point is that the criminal usage gets back to the original sense of "felon" (derived from fallen, morally).