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<P>The Pulp song "Sorted for E's and Whizz", about the futility of going to a rave in a field in Hampshire, one's has the line ""Nice one! Geezer!" And that's as far as the conversation went" sung ironically by singer Jarvis Cocker. The word was widely used among my fellow middle-class clubbers for the person who supplied us with our illegal substances. </P>
<P>I've heard it used with the adjective tasty to describe someone known for his fighting ability.</P>
<P>There is also the compound noun a "geezer-bird" to describe a hard-drinking young woman. In that case it's similar to a "ladette" that had some currency a few years ago in Britain. <BR><BR></P></DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>From: <I>Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer@BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU></I><BR>Reply-To: <I>American Dialect Society <ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU></I><BR>To: <I>ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU</I><BR>Subject: <I>Re: British "geezer" = American "gangster"?</I><BR>Date: <I>Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:16:11 +0000</I><BR>>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------<BR>>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU><BR>>Poster: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer@BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU><BR>>Subject: Re: British "geezer" = American "gangster"?<BR>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>><BR>>On 1/23/07, Jonathon Green
<slang@abecedary.net> wrote:<BR>> > No, a geezer is not a gangster. The Streets (one person rather than a<BR>> > group, as it happens) is very much into charting the life of . .. a<BR>> > geezer, in other words, an ordinary bloke. A gangster might be also be a<BR>> > geezer, and quite possible referred to as such by by his fellow geezers,<BR>> > and indeed gangsters (hence the OED cites), but geezer doesn't mean<BR>> > gangster as such. As you suggest in your final par, it means a 'chap' or<BR>> > 'bloke'. The image is usually working-class, probably London or the<BR>> > Cockney colonies of Essex, and could be, but doesn't have to be a bit of<BR>> > a Jack the Lad. For echt-geezer-dom I recommend the lyrics of the late<BR>> > and quite irreplacable Ian Dury.<BR>><BR>>And for ersatz-geezer-dom (Jafaican style) there
is of course the<BR>>oeuvre of Ali G. (HBO's "Da Ali G Show" introduced the 'bloke' sense<BR>>of "geezer" to many Americans.)<BR>><BR>><BR>>--Ben Zimmer<BR>><BR>>------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></div><br clear=all><hr>Get Hotmail, News, Sport and Entertainment from MSN on your mobile. <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUK/2746??PS=47575" target="_top">Click Here!</a> </html>
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