I wanted to know what this word meant so thought I’d look it up myself! Not sure if it is used elsewhere but it is a common phrase in the UK, especially the South East/London area. In fact when I say common I mean that everyone knows what it means, not that many people use it on a day to day basis!
Anyway for those of you who may not know, the general meaning of the word is man – but more in the sense of a bit of a lad, wide boy, cool bloke, dude almost. It can also refer to someone who is a bit of a wheeler dealer, usually a loud character rather than the mate who sits quietly in the corner. In fact for those of you who know him, a certain Loud character would fit the description perfectly, in the nicest possible sense of course :-) Not quite sure how else to put it but can hopefully you get the gist.
This is where this gets a bit more interesting, the origin. The word comes from the obsolete word "guiser" which literally means someone wearing a mask or in a masquerade. Not really surprising that this word isn’t used any more! How this came to geezer is not clear, my money’s on bad spelling. Anyway, I digress, but it is quite relevant that the apparent original meaning of geezer is of someone who wears a disguise. Although it is used in a positive way by some, it can also be a derogatory term – so it may well have come into being as applying to somebody who pretends to be cool rather than actually is. Therefore they are a geezer.
Another angle: the English Dialect Dictionary defines geezer as "a queer character, a strangely-acting person," and for anyone who has encountered a typical geezer in the pub on a Saturday night this sounds about right. The dictionary also refers back to "guiser” - so in all equals a slightly odd wannabe. Might have to tell that to the next gobby person I hear saying “alright geezer” to his equally gobby mate! And if you don’t know what gobby means/where it comes from just shout and I’ll try to find out…
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1 comments:
Great cameo Cath!
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