Carny Lingo

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 09:00:17 -0400, Grant Barrett
<gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG> wrote:
>On Jul 11, 2005, at 23:56, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>
>> "Welcome to the Fair" is a site featuring an extensive glossary of
>> carnival lingo: <http://welcometothefair.com/lingo/>. It was recently
>> linked on the popular "Boing Boing" blog, so the traffic has
>> temporarily killed the site.
[working now...]

>They say they pulled some of it from Joe McKennon's "Circus Lingo"
>book, but they don't specify which (or both) of the two books they
>used, "Circus Lingo, Written By a Man Who Was There" or "Circus
>Lingo: Another Book By the Man Who Was with it." In any case, it
>jibes pretty well with, without being too identical to, what is in
>David Maurer's June 1931 article in American Speech (vol.  6, no. 5)
>"Carnival Cant: A Glossary of Circus and Carnival Slang."

There are at least two other online glossaries that also rely on McKennon:

     http://www.atomicbooks.com/43/shocked/lingo.html
     http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/

Skimming through the latter site (compiled by Wayne N. Keyser), I see one
interesting entry-- "bozark", perhaps a blend of "bozo" and "beezark"?

     Bozark: Rarely heard ... a female wrestler or
     boxer in a fairground athletic match.
     http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/carny1.htm

This also shows up in a glossary compiled by the Pro Wrestling Torch:

     Bozark (n) A female wrestler; a rarely used old
     carney [dfn.] term.
     http://www.pwtorch.com/insiderglossary.shtml

Both the Keyser and Torch glossaries also have "kayfabe", one of the many
fascinating terms that I've first encountered on Grant's site.

     http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/kayfabe/



--Ben Zimmer