Writer Ben Yagoda, in a post on Slate yesterday, ruminates on the origin of the term "bumbershoot" and ends up talking about one of the 20th century's iconic umbrellas:

"The year before, at the Munich Conference, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was invariably depicted holding a (furled) umbrella, in the manner of a saint and his icon. The imagery suggested a weaponlike thing that was not and would not be used as a weapon, hence its aptness and its stickiness."

Oooh, so close. The January issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction will have the real story...

Or...is this the real story?