British "geezer" = American "gangster"?

Jonathon Green slang at ABECEDARY.NET
Tue Jan 23 23:40:27 UTC 2007


Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: British "geezer" = American "gangster"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathon, is there any connection between Billericay in England and
> Billerica [bIl 'rIk@] in Massachusetts, USA?
>
> -Wilson
>
>
I've wondered that too. Billericay is a town in Essex, to the east of
London. Whether it was the original home of a group of Mass. settlers
who took it with them,  I don't know. Nor, honestly, do I even know if
Billericay existed when settlers were leaving England. None of which
helps. My apologies. I am now tempted to check.  Which I did, via
google, one of which refs. tells me that Billerica was the spelling of
the Essex town in 1655 when Billerica, Mass. was incorporated. So there
we are. They are also twinned, have mutual vists, etc. For more info you
can check http://members.tripod.com/~WynGrant/Billericay.html.

JG

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