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BS: old geezer's
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Subject: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,chuck hemrick Date: 30 Aug 04 - 09:10 AM SUBJECT: "OLD GEEZERS" "Geezers" (slang for an old man) are easy to spot: At sporting events, during the playing of the National Anthem, Old Geezers hold their caps over their hearts and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them. Old Geezers remember World War I, the Depression, World War II, Pearl Harbor,Guadalcanal, Normandy and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing, not to mention Vietnam. If you bump into an Old Geezer on the sidewalk, he will apologize. If you pass an Old Geezer on the street, he will nod or tip his cap to a lady. Old Geezers trust strangers and are courtly to women. Old Geezers hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make certain the lady is on the inside for protection. Old Geezers get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like any filth on TV or in movies. Old Geezers have moral courage. They seldom brag unless it's about their grandchildren. It's the Old Geezers who know our great country is protected, not by politicians or police, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country. This country needs Old Geezers with their decent values. We need them now more than ever. Thank God for Old Geezers! |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: John MacKenzie Date: 30 Aug 04 - 09:19 AM Not many of us left, don't remember that world war one though. Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Dave the Gnome Date: 30 Aug 04 - 09:23 AM I agree! Trouble is I can't remember what I agreeing to now... Do I come here often? Cheers Dave the Gnome |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Midchuck Date: 30 Aug 04 - 10:03 AM The first poster in this thread is a probably a fraud, and went to elementary school sometime after the Vietnam war, which is about when education went to hell. A real old geezer went to elementary school at a time when they taught fine points of grammar and word usage, in detail. So he (applying the rule I was taught in elementary school, that the masculine singular third person personal pronoun includes both the masculine and feminine, when the actual sex of the person is involved is undeterimined, and f*** modern political correctness)would never use the possessive singular (geezer's) when he intended the plural (geezers). Peter (Midchuck) |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: John MacKenzie Date: 30 Aug 04 - 10:13 AM Midchuck, I bow to your knowledge, and erudition. I hereby declare you a true 'Old Geezer' We 'ad a geezer once, it ran on gas [coal] and heated the bath water, we called it Tarka, 'cos it was a water 'otter. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Jim Dixon Date: 30 Aug 04 - 11:14 AM This essay is all over the web. Google found 127 copies of it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Bill D Date: 30 Aug 04 - 12:02 PM figgers that it is just copied.... as a certified "old geezer", I can attest that we ain't all the same..*grin* |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Mark Clark Date: 30 Aug 04 - 12:34 PM Oohhhh, don't get me started. <g> First, since the term geezer includes the notion of advanced age, the phrase old geezer is not simply redundant, it includes a superfluous repitition of excessive verbosity. As a certifiable geezer, I can also comment on the content of this maudlin but incorrect piece. Geezer's used to believe in the words to the US national anthem when, as children, we were Boy Scouts and proudly carried the flag in courts of honor. Then we grew up and realized that the lyrics are only about war and blowing stuff up—something Americans excel at but not really any philosophical basis for believing in one's country. Yes, geezers are polite to people but that doesn't necessarily mean we trust people, we just think society works a lot better when everyone's polite. There aren't that many of us left who remember “The War to End All Wars” but we do remember most of the rest of the stuff mentioned and we've learned that in the next great depression there will be no soup lines, no CCC, no WPA, no NRA, and anyone who isn't content to starve quietly will be shot. As Anatole France once wrote “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” As for filth, most geezers are at least as fond of filth on TV or in movies as is the general population. We may not admit to wanting our prurient natures appealed to but that's only because we're hypocrites. After all, what separates mankind from beasts if not hypocrisy? Geezers remember when regular guys volunteered by the millions whenever the country needed protecting. Geezers also know that regular guys don't volunteer anymore and the armed services are often just the only employment option available to those who join. Many National Guard members are unhappy now because they expected the Guard to keep them out of any actual conflict. Geezers assume that if the country seriously needed military protection now, millions of regular guys would again “flock to join the few.” And, yes, this country does need people with decent values. Problem is that the geezers who have decent values are ejected, laid off, pushed aside, and trapmled under foot to make room for Gen-Xers who don't give a damn for anything but their own incomes and their starter castles sprouting up like mushrooms where proud family farms once stood. Oh, and we've become a little cynical. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: John MacKenzie Date: 30 Aug 04 - 12:49 PM Surely if you can't be an 'Old Geezer' as it borders on tautology, then you can't be a 'little cynical' as one is either cynical or one is not cynical. Another thing geezers get picky about, is use or misuse of language, we want to strangle people who say 'very unique'etc. Grrrrrrrrr Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Aug 04 - 12:56 PM "the term geezer includes the notion of advanced age" No it doesn't. You can have young geezers. It just means the same as "bloke". (Though I gather you don't have "blokes" in the USA, so I suppose maybe "geezer" means something different out there.) Anyway, all old geezers used to be young geezers, and when today's young geezers are old geezers they'll be saying the same things, and acting the same way. And of course they'll be quite right, and much improved. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Mark Clark Date: 30 Aug 04 - 01:12 PM I think this is one of those examples of two nations separated by a common language. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the Ehglish Language provides the following: gee·zer (gē'zər) - Mark |
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Subject: Lyr Add: OLD BLEVINS (from Austin Lounge Lizards) From: JennyO Date: 30 Aug 04 - 01:18 PM This thread made me think of a very funny song I heard, originally by the Austin Lounge Lizards, but now being done by one of our local groups, Touchwood. Now THIS is my idea of an old geezer: Old Blevins We had a little quarrel, she and I She told me just to curl up and die I crept out to drown my sorrows, at a joint called No Tomorrows Where the old man came and looked me in the eye Old Blevins I could tell he had some wisdom to impart Some story that was etched and burned and stamped upon his heart Then his eyes began to glisten, 'cause he could see that I would listen We sat there at the bar 'til nearly three And this is what Old Blevins said to me He said "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah In Tijuana, blah blah blah, back in 1963 Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah You should have been there blah blah blah" Is what Old Blevins said to me I sat there and I listened to his words As they flapped around my head like little birds Had he gone plumb 'round the bend, or could I just not comprehend His lips were writing lines I could not read When suddenly, it all came clear to me As he said "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Them crazy hippies blah blah blah blah no effect on me Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah The Great Depression blah blah blah" And he would not leave me be Old Blevins was still talking when I seized my chance to flee Back home she's never known I'm not the fool I used to be But I know that a man and a woman's lives were somehow changed By a loathsome toothless geezer, incoherent and deranged And my memories of that evening fuel an inner mounting fear That I might become Old Blevins anywhere that they sell beer And I'll say "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I don't remember blah blah blah blah blah blah Mistakes were made Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah How 'bout them Cowboys? blah blah blah" Like Old Blevins used to say Old Blevins |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Aug 04 - 01:29 PM Well, the Concise Oxford Dictionary also has "geezer" as meaning "old man" - but dictionaries make mistakes sometimes, and this is one. "Young geezer" is quite a common expression, in my experience. For example, a rapid google threw up an example of Ozzie Osbourne using it (among others). |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Georgiansilver Date: 30 Aug 04 - 01:29 PM Personally I enjoy being an older and getting older every day geezer but for one thing, or perhaps two things....there are two things that start to happen when you reach that certain age. The first is that you begin to forget even the most simple things at times and the second is......is..............is...................No it's gone I'm afraid. Best wishes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: frogprince Date: 30 Aug 04 - 01:35 PM I've met "Old Blevins" any number of times, with any number of faces. Whatever he looked like at the time, you could safely bet that, in the course of his rambling about the sorry state of some aspect of modern society, he would say "It made me ashamed to be an American". |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Ebbie Date: 30 Aug 04 - 02:34 PM The sad thing is that very often 'old geezers' also have/had qualities that are not accepted in a just society. Geezers, in my experience, often speak/spoke utter balderdash about blacks, Catholics, Jews, the vigilante mindset, law - as it pertains to others, the acceptance and use of epithets, women's role(s) in society. I"m sure everyone can think of other examples. Geezers are one of the reasons that "political correctness" became necessary. IMO |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Once Famous Date: 30 Aug 04 - 02:42 PM Ebbie, you are right about that. In a way though, it's to bad. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Ebbie Date: 30 Aug 04 - 02:49 PM I agree with you, MG- it is too bad. Often these are people one loves and wants to admire. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: John MacKenzie Date: 30 Aug 04 - 02:51 PM You must be meeting the wrong sort of geezers Ebbie, as for "poltical correctness" ever becoming necessary, it's a moot point, it's certainly become an industry I know that. Mark we used to go out guising on Halloween, and kids still do it, although the American Trick or Treat is unfortunately creeping in now. Kids in England don't do it , but it is an old tradition up here in Scotland. We had lots of traditional games that we played at that time too, like 'Dooking for apples' This involves filling a big basin with water, and floating apples in it, you then had to try to get one out using your teeth, you had to kneel on the floor with your hands behind your back while doing this. I always understood the word guising to be an elision of the word disguising. Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: SINSULL Date: 30 Aug 04 - 04:10 PM Giok, Apple dooking or apple bobbing was always a part of our Halloween. Sometimes there were coins in the apples - you had to be careful not to chip a tooth. Does that make me a geezer? I rarely wear a hat and so never tip one at the ladies. I have told this story before: there was a beloved old geezer in Jackson Heights, a veteran of WWI. He, a Brit, always in red beret with an assortment of medals on it, walked with two canes and a sturdy nurse Though old, he was a very handsome man with an eye for the ladies. One day he was walking towards me on the sidewalk. I smiled. He smiled and threw down one cane putting his hand out to me. I thought he meant to shake my hand. Instead he grabbed hold of my breast and held on for dear life cooing and giggling like a child. Then he threw down the second cane and grabbed the other breast. His nurse couldn't get him loose. I was afraid to knock him down - I might have killed him. And a crowd of merry onlookers gathered to watch the show. He was so deliriously happy it was a shame to detach him but we finally did. Is this the sort of patriotic geezer Chuck is waxing euphorious about? I for one would prefer that they stay home and watch their sporting events on the TV. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Bill D Date: 30 Aug 04 - 06:52 PM you mean I have something to look forward to when I am too old be answerable for my actions? *grin*... |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Giok Date: 31 Aug 04 - 04:11 AM I'd have to see those breasts before I could possibly comment! That's two threads in a row that mention breasts I like it here! Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Gurney Date: 31 Aug 04 - 06:17 AM Ebbie, it may be that the opinions held by most 'old geezers' are formed by a lifetime of experience. Isn't that something that ought to be taken into consideration? It was respected in a less sophisticated society. I'm really not having a go at you personally, just pointing out that the opinions of the young/PC/feminine/apologist/whatever are still just opinions, and not yet backed up by a lifetime of experience. The thrust of this thread is that 'Fings ain't wot they used to be,' and anyone who thinks today is a hopeful as when I was young, just wasn't young then. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Mingulay Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:17 AM A geezer is a geezer is a geezer. Young or old, happy or miserable or whatever. Typically in Cockney/London argot a "Diamond Geezer" is a helpful/supportive person, one who "shines". In fact the term seems to emanate from the London/SE area. Even in the UK we are divided at times by a common language. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,milk monitor Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:26 AM And the late, great Ian Dury had this to say.... " Van Gogh did some eyeball pleasers, He must have been a pencil squeezer, He didn't do the Mona Lisa, That was an Italian geezer." |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:43 AM What the female for "geezer" round your way? |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Paco Rabanne Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:48 AM "Diamond Geyser" is in Roturua in New Zealand you silly billy's |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: SINSULL Date: 31 Aug 04 - 08:39 AM old cow? |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Mingulay Date: 31 Aug 04 - 08:42 AM I have never heard of a female form of geezer. Answers please on a postcard to the usual address. As for Roturua, if you stood too near to the thing would you be super (hea)ted. Sorry about that, I will now eat my bodhran and case. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Dave Bryant Date: 31 Aug 04 - 09:13 AM I used to have an ASCOT multi-point geezer, but I chucked it out when I got central heating. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 31 Aug 04 - 09:30 AM A REAL old geezer, having been educated when punctuation was taught correctly, wouldn't misuse an apostrophe in a thread title. RtS (Ascot nul point geezer!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Mingulay Date: 31 Aug 04 - 12:01 PM Was your Ascot one of those where you lit an external burner and then swung it under the boiler into the middle of hissing gas jets? We had one of those when I was a child with a very stiff burner which meant that gas had been flowing for some time before ignition commenced in a somewhat spectacular fashion. Still it was a step up from heating up kettles on the range. And in early 50's rural Northants we still had those along with the remnants of gas lighting. You see, I am an old geezer really. Pete |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Geezer's Wife Date: 31 Aug 04 - 01:20 PM I'm married to one of the WWII versons. It can be quite a challange, what with the crankyness, cataracts, loss of hearing, etc. Still, there are days when I'm no prize either. He does have loads of stories to tell and some of them are still funny after the 100th telling. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Aug 04 - 01:25 PM There's no female for "bloke" either, come to think of it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,milk monitor Date: 31 Aug 04 - 01:33 PM Ladette, Geezer-Bird and Sort seem to be doing the rounds in London. Don't like any of them though. They are used to imply behaviour as opposed to gender. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 31 Aug 04 - 02:05 PM What belongs to the old geezer? Dave Oesterreich, who is one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Aug 04 - 02:19 PM That's what I meant, milko - "bloke" doesn't imply anything about behaviour or what kind of a bloke he is, it's just a less formal equivalent of "man" - there doesn't seem to be an equivalent for "woman" in current use in England anyway. "Bird" is the closest, but it's not quite the same - women don't tend to use it for a start, unlike "bloke". |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,milk monitor Date: 31 Aug 04 - 03:19 PM Yes it's strange McG, you think there would be something colloquial and acceptable for us? There's 'Missus' and 'er indoors', but they are more wifey. Just thought of Geezer Butler. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Aug 04 - 03:28 PM The Australians had "shelagh", but I believe they've dropped it these days. But as it is, there's "lady", which can offend, and "woman" which sounds a bit formal and official (and can offend too), and girl, which sounds daft for proper grown-ups (and can offend too). |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: John MacKenzie Date: 31 Aug 04 - 04:17 PM Well over in the north east of Scotland they call young girls quines, but eventually they metamorphose into auld wifies. Maybe that's a female equivalent of Geezer up there. Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: SINSULL Date: 31 Aug 04 - 04:38 PM Old biddy? |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Megan L Date: 31 Aug 04 - 04:54 PM this appeared in the Sunday Post many years ago. Crabbit Old Woman What do you see nurse, what do you see? What are you thinking, when you look at me? A crabbit old woman, not very wise, Uncertain of habit, with far away eyes, Who dribbles her food, and makes not reply, When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you would try!" Who seems not to notice the things that you do, And forever is losing a stocking or shoe. Who, unresisting or not, lets you do as your will With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill. Is that what you 're thinking, is that what you see? Then open your eyes , you're not looking at me. I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, As I move at your bidding, as I eat at your will. I am a small child of ten with a father and mother, Brothers and Sisters who love one another. A young girl at sixteen with wings at her feet Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet. A bride soon at twenty, my heart gives a leap, Remembering the vows that I promised to keep. At twenty-five now, I have young of my own Who need me to build a secure happy home. A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast, Bound to each other with ties that should last. At forty my young now soon will be gone, But my man stands beside me to see I don't mourn. At fifty once more babies play around my knee, Again we know children, my loved one and me. Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead, I look at the future, I shudder with dread, For my young are all busy rearing young of their own And I think of the years and the love I have known. I'm an old lady now and nature is cruel, 'Tis her jest to make old age look a fool? The body it crumbles, grace and vigor depart, And now there is a stone, where I once had a heart. But inside this old carcass, a young still dwells, And now and again my battered heart swells. I remember the joys, I remember the pain, And I am loving and living life over again. I think of the years all too few, gone so fast And accept the stark fact that nothing can last. So open your eyes, nurse, open and see, Not a crabbit old woman, look closer, see ME. -- Author Unknown |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Bill D Date: 31 Aug 04 - 06:56 PM no female word? What about the simple 'gal'? Guys & Gals... |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,milk monitor Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:13 PM Bill D....over here that would only be heard from an end of the pier Jimmy Saville impersonator. He was a DJ and that was his catchphrase. I can't remember if he has died, so I will leave it at that. I could never take to him. But he did an awful lot of fundraising. Alternatively used for someone called Gary. Or if pronounced 'Gel' with a hard G, we are talking the lacrosse set. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Teresa Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:48 PM What an amazing poem, sinsul! It would make a great song, too. T |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: SINSULL Date: 31 Aug 04 - 07:57 PM Thanks but that was Megan's contribution. I find it a little scary myslef. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Boab Date: 01 Sep 04 - 04:36 AM Somebody mentioned Halloween. Can any of my fellow-geezers remember the hoot we used to have in Auld Scotland with our Haunds tied behind our backs, trying to get a couple o' mouthfuls of griddle-scones dripping with treacle [molasses] and hung along the clothes line? real messy, but great fun---and tasty, too! Och!---Ah'd dae it yet!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: Gurney Date: 02 Sep 04 - 04:09 AM And the next question is, what is the behavioral difference between an old geezer and an old codger? This is one for folks who consider geezer to have a behavioral element, which the English mostly don't, from what I remember. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: GUEST,Mingulay Date: 02 Sep 04 - 08:33 AM I think that accepted terminology would have it that a geezer is someone who is streetwise, a little bit wheee/a little bit w-hay whereas an old codger is more into Zen and the art of zimmer frame maintenance, pipes, slippers, whippets and making half a pint last all night. Sod, I've just looked into the mirror. Codgerdom beckons. |
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Subject: RE: BS: old geezer's From: bigchuck Date: 02 Sep 04 - 09:27 AM Personally, I prefer the appelation of "Crusty Old Fart" which I first heard used by Utah Phillips and which I willingly and proudly embrace. Sandy |
