Off: Help w/ British Terms

[Jill Strobridge]

----- Original Message -----
From: "DRider" <Hawkwind at ATTBI.COM>

> What do these terms mean?
I guess most of them have been adequately defined by now but I did a
quick browse through Chambers dictionary and there were one or two
additional definitions that might be of interest:

 > bloke
apart frorm being general slang for 'a man' -  in nautical terminology
it also means (or used to mean - the usage may go back a couple of
centuries) 'the commander'

> punter
the definition in this case is probably the one where 'punt' means to
stake against the bank or to back a horse - so 'punter' is a
professional gambler.  It's apparently derived from French 'ponter'.
How the modern usage of punter to mean the audience of a rock band has
evolved I have no idea - but I guess an element of gambling is
involved - buy a ticket and who knows what you will get!

> bugger
interesting one this!  The origin is from Latin - probably early
medieval - apparently 'a Bulgarian heretic, believed capable of any
crime'.   Hence it came to represent 'one guilty of bestiality and
unnatural vice'.     Its meaning has moderated over the years to become
'a low term of abuse, often quite colourless or even kindly' but
'buggery' is a legal term that still means 'bestiality' or 'unnatural
vice'.

> geezer
this is another anonymous slang word meaning a 'queer elderly person'
but there is a reference to 'guiser' which is interesting.  'guise' of
course is 'manner or behaviour'.  The Scots 'guiser' is a person in
disguise but an earlier meaning is 'a (Christmas) mummer' - a person in
disguise acting out the part of some older ritual.   The origin is
guise/wisa/weise Old French/High German/Old English suggesting 'a way'
'a guise' or 'wisdom'.   So 'geezer' contains elements of older
knowledge and strange behaviour - which is reasonably appropriate!

Hope this is of some curiosity at least!
jill
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Jill Strobridge <jill at theta-orionis.freeserve.co.uk>
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