Talking In Farang Code

[pdogg]

Many times we falang may not want Thais within earshot to know what we're talking about. For example, if we think we might see a ladyboy on the street, we may not want to say to our mate, "Is she a ladyboy". Instead we might say, "Is she one of ours". Credit goes to BumbleBee for that one.

Many guys in Pattaya say Soi Half A Dozen so their wives don't get bent out of shape.

There was a book about Vegas; the card counters that would use slang to refer to the card count. For example, if the count is 16 they might use the word "sweet" in a sentence referring to sweet 16.

But a code is useless unless we all know the code. And using Soi Mickey for Soi 7 because Mickey Mantle wore Number 7 ain't going to work either.

So if anyone has ideas, shout them out. I was thinking maybe Viet Cong might be good for Soi VC.

[farangbah]

There's a small one I like using, as taken from the mafia, when introducing a new person:

-- A GG-lover/person unawares of our "hobby": "This is a friend of mine..."

-- An LB-lover: "This is a friend of ours..." (i.e. -- a "made man")

Mixed results of understanding thus far, but that's what this thread is for -- promoting LB-language literacy!

[Luung]

As some of you may know 'Cockney rhyming slang' as been forever evolving since its conception.

Anyway, one of the more modern phrases is 'Bacardi Breezer' = 'Geezer', 'Breezers' being a popular alcoholic beverage both back in the UK & here in Thailand & a 'geezer' being very much a London term or equivalent of let's say a 'jock' to the yanks or an 'Occa' to the Aussies.

So even when in the company of a 'straight' mate or 'One of Ours' from my native shit hole, if we're wondering what we're looking at either is or isn't a girl & we don't want others to know what we're saying, one of us might chirp in, "Is it a Breezer"?... Or 'It's a Breezer'.

Then again, if we want to talk about a ladyboy who's within earshot anywhere, maybe in a mixed bar or a shopping mall, we'll talk about 'that Breezer over there'... And we never get tumbled, no one knows what the fuck we're on about.

Try it...

[KenW]

Well, that code's all very well for you Poms.

But if I said to my lot: check that Ocker over there, all heads would turn looking for a fat ugly bellied cove in a singlet with a shaven head, sub-knee length longs (or is that shorts?), calf length white tennis socks and joggers, trying loudly in English to get the world's cheapest deal on some electronic gizmo.

[farangbah]

Wait, a geezer is a jock?

Huh... I thought it was more like a bloke or a punter. So, more along the lines of a chav or a skal, then?

[strocube]

Yeah, I thought "geezer" was more or less equivalent to a "dude" or "guy."

Here in the land of fat, violent, and stupid (USA), a "jock" is an athlete or a person that is seriously into physical fitness. It also carries the connotation of not being very bright; as in, "He's just a dumb jock."

[Luung]

Well, that code's all very well for you Poms. But if I said to my lot: check that Ocker over there, all heads would turn looking for a fat ugly bellied cove in a singlet with a shaven head, sub-knee length longs (or is that shorts?), calf length white tennis socks and joggers, trying loudly in English to get the world's cheapest deal on some electronic gizmo.

Wait, a geezer is a jock? Huh... I thought it was more like a bloke or a punter. So, more along the lines of a chav or a skal, then?

Yeah, I thought "geezer" was more or less equivalent to a "dude" or "guy."Here in the land of fat, violent, and stupid (USA), a "jock" is an athlete or a person that is seriously into physical fitness. It also carries the connotation of not being very bright; as in, "He's just a dumb jock."

I was hoping this wasn't going to get complicated...Oh heck.

OK, what a geezer is falls within a rather wide remit & as I’m not really up on more specific American or Australian terminology I had to clutch at the air for what I considered ‘rough’ equivalents, jock, bloke, punter, ocker all fall within the wide spectrum of what a geezer can be, but ‘chav’ does not... what the fuck a skal is I honestly don’t know?

Geezer is a term that I hear blokes from many parts of the UK or Ireland using & loosely speaking it just means the ‘hairy arsed’, beer drinking, sports loving or playing, variety of male, the no frills type, one of the lads, but it’s not necessarily a bad term, it can range from someone like the oafish, numb nut, arsehole in the singlet to Sean Connery.

However, if you want to be more specific, essentially it’s a working class London/Thames Estuary phrase that’s used extensively & has slightly more specific meanings, for instance, if you hear a Londoner calling someone a ‘proper geezer’ they’ll be talking about something a bit more than just an ordinary bloke, this’ll be the real article, hairy arse n’ side burns, strong chin, looks you in the eye, holds his beer well... And he don’t tell lies, his word’s his bond, basically the bloke with some back bone who does the right thing & ‘steps up’.

@ Farangbah, funnily enough my main ‘forum’ drinking buddy is ‘The Backdoor Specialist’ from PLB & I remember him writing in a trip report that I was a ‘proper, old school, London geezer’, not like these fucking chavs you’ve got running about nowdays. It was flattering, although I didn’t really feel that I lived up to it & it’s not how I see myself, but it sort of puts the ‘chav’ in perspective... A chav is a scummy, street urchin who terrorises old women whilst bathing in his vulgarity & surly ignorance wearing it like a badge... THAT’S NOT A GEEZER!

BTW, the word chav comes from ‘chavvie’ & is ‘Pikie talk’ (Romany gypsy language to you) for a toddler or small child, usually a girl actually... 99.5% of chavs don’t even know that... Please don’t ask me how I know.

@Ken, Basically geezer rhymes with Breezer & it rolls off the tongue nicely (unfortunately ocka don’t roll of the tongue), also as with the best nicknames or name phrases it’s got a double connotation, LB’s are often hairy arsed blokes under the makeup & frilly knickers & a breezer is a girl’s disco drink, so it hits both bases & fits rather nicely.

@ strocube, ‘dumb jock’ fits perfectly within the geezer remit!

Fuck that was exhausting!

[SiamSam]

For most of us in Canada and the US, "geezer" simply means an old guy. Which by the way, most of us are compared to the average age of the LBs we chase. So why wouldn't they calls us "geezers"?

Am I missing something... again? :unknw:

[farangbah]

I was hoping this wasn't going to get complicated...Oh heck........

Thanks for taking the time to learn us, Lung -- cheers! As a bit of a cunning linguist myself, I've pretty much got American covered, so in recent years, as I've spent more time away from the States, I've enjoyed learning and playing with more nuggets from the British take on my language. [Ed.: Yes, yes, I know you guys invented American :D ]

And I just love reading your posts... "holds his beer well"... "frilly knickers"... I love it! Shit, "frilly knickers" makes me almost as giddy with schoolboy excitement as "panties" does!

As explained to me by a good friend from the Isle of Wight (what does that make him, a Wighter? A Wightian? Wightese? Wait, I bet you guys reach way back for something like a "Wicunian"!), a man who holds his beer as well as anyone I know (whilst simultaneously snorting it through his nose in laughter at the world going by), a "skal" or "scal" is a relatively new variant and short for "scaliwag" -- white trash in a track suit and trainers, drinking outside a corner shop, making rude comments to women passersby.

Their call-sign, as championed by Rio Ferdinand (a skal himself (sorry, Dave, it's true)), is that almost-gay-looking snapping of the wrist back and forth (almost like snapping your fingers, but not, kind of like you are flicking a booger off your finger), and saying, "BRRRRAAPS!... BRRRAAPS!..." in apparent affirmation of something...

None of this is useful in front of ladyboys, however, as I would suspect they would just think it was a western-style gesture for a jerk-off (which, well, maybe it is... :D )...

[williethepimp]

Thanks for taking the time to learn us, Lung -- cheers! As a bit of a cunning linguist myself, I've pretty much got American covered, so in recent years, as I've spent more time away from the States, I've enjoyed learning and playing with more nuggets from the British take on my language. [Ed.: Yes, yes, I know you guys invented American :D ]

And I just love reading your posts... "holds his beer well"... "frilly knickers"... I love it! Shit, "frilly knickers" makes me almost as giddy with schoolboy excitement as "panties" does!

As explained to me by a good friend from the Isle of Wight (what does that make him, a Wighter? A Wightian? Wightese? Wait, I bet you guys reach way back for something like a "Wicunian"!), a man who holds his beer as well as anyone I know (whilst simultaneously snorting it through his nose in laughter at the world going by), a "skal" or "scal" is a relatively new variant and short for "scaliwag" -- white trash in a track suit and trainers, drinking outside a corner shop, making rude comments to women passersby.

Their call-sign, as championed by Rio Ferdinand (a skal himself (sorry, Dave, it's true)), is that almost-gay-looking snapping of the wrist back and forth (almost like snapping your fingers, but not, kind of like you are flicking a booger off your finger), and saying, "BRRRRAAPS!... BRRRAAPS!..." in apparent affirmation of something...

None of this is useful in front of ladyboys, however, as I would suspect they would just think it was a western-style gesture for a jerk-off (which, well, maybe it is... :D )...

Like lung,(great post btw lung)...ive never heard of scal.....i think you'll find its scally, a word very popular the last 10 years or so,but has lost its popularity among the new breed.....the hand motion you refer to and the video shows Ferdinand demonstrating started off as a black thing ,then adopted by the white kids as well,if done properly the bones crack to make a cool snapping sound...scallies are usually young white Northerners with borderline criminal tendencies...Rio Ferdinand could /would never be described as a scally.,Wayne Rooney possibly....apart from that,great post too farangbah...

[redrock]

Very interesting topic. I've found myself in mixed company (us and lbs) on many occasions where communication between the group has to be sensored. Most of the UK or Irish fellas can be very cute with their language as most of the local slang terms are well known throughout the UK. But I've sometimes struggled to communicate with others in these situations.

I love the thought of an lb shaggers' code. It's so...conspiratorial. Universal words that, no matter where you come from, you'll understand instantly.

[bumblebee]

Very interesting topic. I've found myself in mixed company (us and lbs) on many occasions where communication between the group has to be sensored. Most of the UK or Irish fellas can be very cute with their language as most of the local slang terms are well known throughout the UK. But I've sometimes struggled to communicate with others in these situations.

I love the thought of an lb shaggers' code. It's so...conspiratorial. Universal words that, no matter where you come from, you'll understand instantly.

Yea we did seem to be able to chat about them in their presence without being cussed, expressions like "The hoots on yer man"(what a pair of tits she has) were easily understood among ourselves.

[Hefe]

Wow, I am learning me some linguistics Brit school-style. Even if I understood the translation of some of these terms, the thick brogues of some of you "geezers" is just as impenetrable to us simple-minded yanks as to be near impossible to understand sometimes, just like my american relation Siri on the new iPhone, who can't decipher our scottish cousins.

I visit Ireland regularly, in fact virtually all my relations still live there, so I should be a bit more advanced in tuning in to this, but I remember a few years ago sitting in a bar with someone, thpon or someone, & chatting for quite a bit & being blown away when he said he was welsh, I was guessing middle europe & only understanding 3 out of every 5 words! (of course my souvenier of a misspent youth is a bit of hearing loss which doesn't help either).

Here in the states the african american kids in some urban areas have accents & "jive" or "hip hop" slang that combined can be as impenetrable as any foreign dialect (remember the scene in "Airplane": "Stewardess, I speak jive.")