re: US English? page 4

"What abominable language! Don't you know the Queen's English?" "Well, of course she is. Otherwise she couldn't be Queen."

Not so. (The latter clause, that is. I have no dispute with the former.) There are only sixty people who ... Queen of Norway at that point, of course; and she is currently five months old. -Aaron J. Dinkin Dr. Whom

Actually, as Tony Robinson's recent documentary showed, the rightful king is actually a very amiable geezer in a small Australian town. And he's a Republican who wouldn't touch Royalty with a bargepole..
BTW and OT, in BrE a 'geezer' just means 'a good guy' - does it imply age in AmE?
DC

Django Cat typed thus:

Actually, as Tony Robinson's recent documentary showed, the rightful king is actually a very amiable geezer in a small Australian town. And he's a Republican who wouldn't touch Royalty with a bargepole..

Ah, "rightful" must be one of those Humpty Dumpty words.

David
==

BTW and OT, in BrE a 'geezer' just means 'a good guy' - does it imply age in AmE?

Yes. In fact, that's the only thing it implies; "geezer" is exactly a contemptuous term for 'old man'.
-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

Aaron J. Dinkin typed thus:

Not so. (The latter clause, that is. I have no ... point, of course; and she is currently five months old.

You can take this back two generations - only 58 people have to die for there to be a Norwegian on the throne of England - he's currently King of Norway.

Well, sure. Nobody said the King had to be English.

-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

BTW and OT, in BrE a 'geezer' just means 'a good guy' - does it imply age in AmE?

Yes. In fact, that's the only thing it implies; "geezer" is exactly a contemptuous term for 'old man'. -Aaron J. Dinkin Dr. Whom

Ah. That 'contemptuous' explains a lot. Thanks.
DC

BTW and OT, in BrE a 'geezer' just means 'a good guy' - does it imply age in AmE?

Yes. In fact, that's the only thing it implies; "geezer" is exactly a contemptuous term for 'old man'. -Aaron J. Dinkin Dr. Whom

It also seems to refer to one who exhibits odd behavior probably the older of the meanings (from guiser, a masquerader). So the common term "old geezer" is becoming a tautology.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=geezer

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" (Email Removed) Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

BTW and OT, in BrE a 'geezer' just means 'a good guy' - does it imply age in AmE?

Yes. In fact, that's the only thing it implies; "geezer" is exactly a contemptuous term for 'old man'...

I had been contemplating applying to the Geezerhood Accreditation Board, under the impression that the BrE connotation was the universally-accepted one, though I thought it also had an age component. With this new (to me) slant on it, I'll have to research the Canadian position before proceeding.
In some matters Canada hews to Brit antecedents, in others, to the Merkin view, but sometimes neither is favoured and we create a more comfortable Canadian position.
Do Brit Geezers always have a two-day growth of grey beard stubble? (Not to be confused with Yasser Arafat's three-or-four-day growth). And are there special razors/shavers to achieve this, or does one shave normally, then endure a few days in purdah before re-appearing in public?

John W Hall (Email Removed)
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.
"Helping People Prosper in the Information Age"

Yes. In fact, that's the only thing it implies; "geezer" is exactly a contemptuous term for 'old man'...

I was afraid of that. In BrE 'geezer' is especially thought of as being East London slang. In this august forum I recently refered to my father-in-law as 'a geezer' meaning to suggest that he was a born-and-bred Londoner, not a doddery old git. One of my mates comes from Romford on the fringes of London, takes his East Endership very seriously, and would be quite happy to be called a geezer. (People who call him things he isn't happy with find out their mistake very quickly and sometimes painfully.)
We do often say 'an old geezer' but there's nothing contradictory about saying something like 'some young geezer gone nicked it'.

I had been contemplating applying to the Geezerhood Accreditation Board, under the impression that the BrE connotation was the universally-accepted ... and we create a more comfortable Canadian position. Do Brit Geezers always have a two-day growth of grey beard stubble?

Not at all, that sounds more like dossers. In fact there's the popular 'a tasty geezer' which at goes back at least as far as this bloody awful pop song: http://tinyurl.com/ywyt8 , circa 1972. Here 'tasty' means attractive, good dress sense, but also fly, smart, somone to watch, maybe a bit dangerous (it may have started in boxing) as in 'he's a bit tasty that Wayne Rooney'.
DC

Yes. In fact, that's the only thing it implies; "geezer" is exactly a contemptuous term for 'old man'. -Aaron J. Dinkin Dr. Whom

It also seems to refer to one who exhibits odd behavior probably the older of the meanings (from guiser, a masquerader). So the common term "old geezer" is becoming a tautology. http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=geezer Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Interesting etymology, I'd have guessed at Yiddish. DC