Mark
>So what exactly is a wideboy? I've seen the
description in a bunch of
>books, including the jacket copy for this
one.
I've always understood it to have a more general meaning than
just tough-guy or thug, more someone who is slightly dodgy
and cunning; selling ripped off goods, dubious cars and so
on. Someone who operates on the edge of legality rather than
outright gangsterism. It's also associated with being a bit
flash: gold jewelry, souped up (but terrible) cars and so on.
Good parodies would be the character Del Boy in the British
comedy 'Only Fools and Horses', if that means anything to you
(it's undoubtedly been sold to a cable company or three), or
Arthur Daley in the seventies' series
'Minder'. Another characteristic is that the wideboy is far
less influential than he'd like to think. Of course, it may
be that the meaning is changing - London gangland is hardly
my milieu - but for me wideboy has far less malevolent
connotations.
Cheers Chris
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