"guy"

sagehen sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM
Thu Mar 3 19:43:40 UTC 2005


There's an interesting contrast between the expression  "regular guy"  as
used in the US & the UK. (This UK usage is probably out of date by several
decades!)
Whereas here it connotes "true blue," "stand up," "good fellow," &c., in UK
it means -- or meant --  a figure of fun, or a foolish-looking, or
outlandishly dressed
person.  These meanings deriving, presumably from the Guy Fawkes effigies
carried about and burnt on bonfires on GF day (Nov 5).

On the "strong as ball" thread, I've lost the original post & don't
remember whence the citation came, but ISTM that mistaking "intestinal" for
"testicular" could well arise from mis-hearing or misapprehending this
euphemism for "guts," (perhaps from childhood) in a society that is a lot
more attentive to testicles than intestines.

A. Murie



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