American slang term for carnival employee

This article is about carnival employees and carnival slang. For other uses, see Carny (disambiguation)

Carny, also spelled carnie, is an informal term used in North America for a traveling carnival employee, and the language they use, particularly when the employee plays a game ("joint"), food stand ("grab" or "popper"), or ride at a carnival. The term "showie" is used synonymously in Australia.[1]

Etymology [ edit ]

Carny is thought to have become popularized around 1931 in North America, when it was first colloquially used to describe one who works at a carnival.[2] The word carnival, originally meaning a "time of merrymaking before Lent," came into use circa 1549.

Carny language [ edit ]

The carny vocabulary is traditionally part of carnival cant, a secret language. It is an ever-changing form of communication, in large part designed to be impossible to understand by an outsider.[3] As words are assimilated into the culture at large, they lose their function and are replaced by more obscure or insular terms.[citation needed] Most carnies no longer use cant, but some owners/operators and "old-timers" still use some of the classic terms.

In addition to carny jargon, some carnival workers used a special infix ("earz" or "eez" or "iz") to render regular language unintelligible to outsiders. This style eventually migrated into wrestling, hip hop, and other parts of modern culture.[4]

The British form of fairground cant is called "Parlyaree".

Usage in popular culture [ edit ]

Film

Television

In The Blacklist (TV series) season 5, episode 11 Raymond Reddington speaks carny to an associate while being involved in illegal dealings.

Music

Carny Man by Cross Canadian Ragweed

Literature

Theater

In Liliom by Ferenc Molnár the main character is a carnival Carousel Barker

by Ferenc Molnár the main character is a carnival Carousel Barker In Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein, based on Liliom the main character, Billy Bigelow is a Carnival Carousel Barker

Other

Much of the fiction of pulp writer Fredric Brown features carnies and touches on carnival life, in particular the Ed and Am Hunter mysteries, beginning with The Fabulous Clipjoint in 1947.

in 1947. Carnival Games (known in Europe as Carnival: Funfair Games ) is a video game made for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS featuring a carny who helps to present and explain gameplay.

(known in Europe as ) is a video game made for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS featuring a carny who helps to present and explain gameplay. Many Carny words are still used by professional wrestlers, e.g. mark, work, snozz, et al. Pro wrestling originated in the carnivals of the 19th and early 20th century where wrestlers not wanting to face regular injury and wanting to make bouts more entertaining would 'stage' their fights. Carny language was used to disguise the staged nature of the bouts with all involved keeping "kayfabe" or protecting the secret.

Ron Bennington a formal carnival worker and stand up comedian states to his radio partner, "All the world is just carnies and rubes." Insisting you're either part of the gimmick or "a pigeon walking down the midway, enjoying his cotton candy, waiting to lose his rent money on the midway."

See also [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Further reading [ edit ]