Four flush

In media

The term "four flusher" has a long history in American political and pop culture insults. Oklahoma's first governor, Charles N. Haskell, used it against President Theodore Roosevelt, his political rival. In 1919, Metro Pictures put out a comedy called The Four Flusher, and the phrase kept appearing in film titles. Harold Lloyd's 1922 silent film Dr. Jack uses it to describe the city doctor treating "The Sick-Little-Well-Girl."

A 1925 American comedy also bore the name The Four Flusher. In the 1926 silent film The Show-Off, Louise Brooks's character Clara calls Ford Sterling's Aubrey Piper a four flusher, meaning a boastful person who makes false claims; his behavior costs the Fisher family the money for their mortgage. Groucho Marx, as Rufus T. Firefly in the 1933 Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup, hurls the insult "four-flushing swine" at Ambassador Trentino. Mischa Auer's character Pepi gets called a four flusher in the 1941 film Hellzapoppin'.

The 1945 noir Detour has Tom Neal's character label another character, Charlie Haskell Jr., a four flusher—a name that echoes the Oklahoma governor. Clark Gable's character receives the same label in the 1948 film Homecoming. After President Harry Truman dismissed Douglas MacArthur in 1951, he told Merle Miller that General George Marshall had called MacArthur a "four flusher and no two ways about it." A 1954 Popeye cartoon played on the term with the pun title "Floor Flusher."

In Disney's 1967 The Jungle Book, Bagheera calls Baloo a four flusher upon discovering Baloo is alive after thinking him dead. The Doobie Brothers included the song "Double Dealin' Four Flusher" on their 1975 album Stampede. Screenwriter John Hughes used the phrase as a signature. In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Clark rants about his boss being "four flushing" over a disappointing corporate gift.

In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, the mafia boss Johnny uses it in the fictional film Angels with Even Filthier Souls. In Uncle Buck, a drunk Pooter the Clown calls Buck a four flusher, leading Buck to punch him. A 2014 screenplay titled FourFlush was written by Harley Evseichik.