15 excellent bits of carnival slang to add to your vocabulary
even if you’ve never worked on a midway, you can still pepper your speech with delightfully authentic carnival jargon. start slipping these terms into conversation and watch as your friends bally about how great talking to you is.
1. Annie Oakley (noun): A meal ticket.
2. Bally (verb): To attract a crowd by making a great commotion about how terrific a show is.
3. Brodie (noun): A clumsy and spectacular fall. Named for Steve Brodie, a man who claimed to have survived a fall from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886.
4. Charivari (noun): A cacophonous and chaotic entrance of clowns.
5. Charley (verb): To toss a stack of posters or playbills in the trash rather than giving them away as ordered.
6. Cherry pie (noun): Outside work performed by carnival employees for extra cash.
7. Clem (noun): A fight between carnival employees.
8. Duke (noun): A box lunch distributed to carnival staff.
9. Kinker (noun): Any performer, but originally intended for acrobats.
10. G-top (noun): Private employee tent for gambling.
11. Larry (adjective): Poorly made, worthless, bad (of items or souvenirs).
12. Lead joint (noun): Shooting gallery.
13. Reuben (noun): A rube or a gullible sap.
14. Scram-bag (noun): A bag packed for immediate use in case a quick departure is required.
15. Waxie (noun): A repairman
“carnies built this country, the carnival part of it anyway.”
– homer simpson
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credits: carnival – broadway 1961, mentalfloss.com
I didn't have my glasses on.... 
Goodness what an interesting assorted vocab. I think the explanations are just as quirky as the words themselves. I’ve got my scram bag packed and ready to go. 😉
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always good to be prepared, jen )
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Doesn’t everyone have a scram bag? They should!
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if they’re smart they do, eli!
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mine has snacks and clean underwear. i can improvise the rest.
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and that’s all you need )
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I always loved that musical…jerry ohrbach and anna maria alberghetti…based on the leslie caron movie which it is too early for me to recall the name of right now and which roy bought me about 5 years ago? wow?
and I do not think I spelled jerry’s name correctly….and I am now embarrassed to live? this is my area of expertise?
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wow, you have a great memory, susie, we all have our blips, and i had forgotten all about anna maria a, what a moniker!
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based on LILLI or LILI?
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thanks, susie )
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fun – fyi, that musical is one of my mom’s favorites!
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oh, i’m not surprised at all, roy )
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A Ruben is a sandwich. Everyone knows that. Cherry pie is…well, never mind. This is a family venue.
We have go-bags at our desks at work. They’re like scram-bags. They were distributed after 9/11. Flashlight, food, water. Other stuff. Just in case a building falls on your head.
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good move, exile )
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It’s the best when insiders can talk without outsiders knowing what the hell they’re talking about! Of course, it’s really great when audiences catch on quick, or else they’ll pick up they’re scram-bag and hit the exits. I do believe I hear Carney ingo every year around this time a the New York State Fair midway, Beth.
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oh, i’ll bet you do, mark )
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Who knows when I might need this information 🙂
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you are so right, paul )
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hahahha, yes so true )
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I wonder if Larry O ever knew about No. 11!
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oh, i’ll be he may not have known..fnd )
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Ha! Cool. I haven’t seen any of those words used before. Thanks Beth!
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glad to add to your vocabulary, paul )
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Cool to have such a language between them! Fun post!
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it is fun to have your own insider’s lingo, i agree, tiny )
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Like the idea of “charivari.” Carnival reminds me of the film ” The Fantastics.”
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me too, deb –
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When I went to the Vegas strip years ago, I had to charley all of the adult entertainment fliers into the trash. People just stood there, handing them out like free porn. These terms are fun. I have to incorporate this into my CB jargon, as well as my cop jargon. That’s a big 10-4 on the 5150. BTW, half of these are first names! Poor Larry…
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excellent use of your lingo, kerbey )
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That was interesting!
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thanks, pif )
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I so needed this for a project! Can I lift some of the terms?
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feel free mark, i learned about them in mental floss magazine, one of my fav sources of unusual information )
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This reminds me of reading “Water for Elephants” and of course the book was much better (and much more graphic) than the movie!
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oh, you’re right, it kind of does,and i agree about the book, msh –
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It’s good for the brain to train with a new language. I better start training….
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so right, i’m sure you’ll master it is no time )
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Wow, a foreign language for me Beth.
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it’s never too late….)
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Having just read about Keanu being on TV, I can only say, EXCELLENT!!
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thanks, andra )
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You learn something new every day. 🙂
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we do indeed, laurie )
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I’ll head over to the G-top with my duke and hope I don’t have to ‘put up my dukes’ before I get to eat it!
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hah!
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fun! 😀
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thanks )
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weirder than cockney–I don’t get ANY instant associations–though I just coined the term “my Rushmore” for face, and who knows who will even get that?
say–did you ever read: Water for Elephants? It was a fabulous read–haven’t seen the movie–all about trian hoppers and carne peeps. Maybe you an’ the Large Print Book club…I said: MAYBE YOU AND THE….o hello ell!! 😉
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oh, i love the ‘my rushmore’ thing, and yes actually, the club has read that and had a junk food /carnival/circus food theme for that gathering )
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