Some years ago I heard an expression which I believe to be an old regional saying in Melbourne, Australia. From memory it was something like "Go ask Snowy on the trams" or "..from the trams." Does anybody have any ideas as to the origins of this expression and what it means?

looney_tunes

Possibly a reference to the criminal 'Snowy' Cutmore, a rival of crime king Sqizzy Taylor near the end of the nineteenth century. The two killed each other in a shootout. http://australiancrimes.com/gangsters.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squizzy_Taylor Oct 19 11, 12:08 PM

Aussiedrongo

Although there is no reference to trams, this may have some credibility. The person I heard the expression from was an old workmate who would be in his seventies now. He grew up in the suburb of Northcote which is located right amongst those suburbs of the 1920's underworld crime scene. Perhaps the word 'trams' is a later corruption of another word. Hmmm. The old newspaper clippings have given me an idea to visit the State Library one day to see if they might have anything on file. Oct 19 11, 10:34 PM