-iz(z)- infix

[Jonathon Green]

>While to date I have no citations of the -iz infix prior to the
>1990s, where the use seems to start amongst the hip-hop/rap
>community and move on to general campus use, might I draw attention
>to one possible predecessor: the use amongst US carnival workers of
>the infix -eas, e.g. in ceasarnie (carnie), measark (a mark or
>sucker), heasar (here), neasix (nix) etc.

>Can I ask how that one is pronounced?  (And does the "-eas-" indicate
>a conventional spelling recorded in texts somewhere?)

>larry, always on the lookout for new examples to bring up in class
>once "-fuckin-", "-bloody-", and their mates have been exhausted

You can indeed ask, and I would love to answer in full, but as is too often
the case with defunct slang (albeit that I would term these words jargon)
the pronunciation is the last thing one can pin down. So I can but guess. My
assumption, and the reason I sent my note, is that they too are pronounced
'iz' or possibly 'uz'. To compound my failings, I cannot now recall where I
found this micro-list - and since I didn't consider it slang, I failed to
take down the proper citation - but I shall ponder, and if the source
emerges, inform you accordingly.

Jonathon Green