Do you think it might have been a misspelling of "gombeen"? Dredging up my Irish ancestry and the little I've learned about it, this is an Irish word which I think means lending at exorbitant interest rates, but for which the meaning has moved to anyone who rips you off. The "gombeen man" is/was the rent-collector, I believe. Gombeen is/was used as an epithet, although not, as far as I'm aware, as a substitute for the 'f' word. The Irish are very good at using that, too. Really, really good emphasis!


The idiot also known as Capfka ...