British "geezer" = American "gangster"?

[Lynne Murphy]

I (and BrE-native commentators) have discussed BrE 'geezer' on Separated by
a Common Language:

<http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/geezers.html>

As has been said, it's not 'gangster'.  I suggest on the blog that it's
more comparable to non-address forms of dude ('He's a dude.'), but, it's
something that's hard to translate because of the particular array of
connotations that go with it.  I can't help but think that indicators of
masculinity vary somewhat between the two cultures (and, of course, they're
pretty class-based as well, which makes things even more complicated when
one considers them transatlantically).

Lynne





--On Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:36 pm +0000 david hughes
<dth10 at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>
>
>
> 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.
>
> I've heard it used with the adjective tasty to describe someone known for
> his fighting ability.
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
> From:  Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Reply-To:  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To:  ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:  Re: British "geezer" = American "gangster"?
> Date:  Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:16:11 +0000
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> ----------------------- Sender:       American Dialect Society
>> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: British "geezer" = American "gangster"?
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------
>>
>> On 1/23/07, Jonathon Green <slang at abecedary.net> wrote:
>> > No, a geezer is not a gangster. The Streets (one person rather than a
>> > group, as it happens) is very much into charting the life of . .. a
>> > geezer, in other words, an ordinary bloke. A gangster might be also be
>> > a geezer, and quite possible referred to as such by by his fellow
>> > geezers, and indeed gangsters (hence the OED cites), but geezer
>> > doesn't mean gangster as such. As you suggest in your final par, it
>> > means a 'chap' or 'bloke'. The image is usually working-class,
>> > probably London or the Cockney colonies of Essex, and could be, but
>> > doesn't have to be a bit of a Jack the Lad. For echt-geezer-dom I
>> > recommend the lyrics of the late and quite irreplacable Ian Dury.
>>
>> And for ersatz-geezer-dom (Jafaican style) there is of course the
>> oeuvre of Ali G. (HBO's "Da Ali G Show" introduced the 'bloke' sense
>> of "geezer" to many Americans.)
>>
>>
>> --Ben Zimmer
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
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Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer and Head of Department
Linguistics and English Language
Arts B135
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org