I immediately thought of Grant when I stumbled across a list of Carnival Jargon at the Wikipedia page for the word 'carnie.' There are some really great images with these words. I especially like the "Flying Jinny" instead of merry-go-round. "Possum belly queen" has some great comedic potential, I think.
A booklet you might be interested in, if you can find it, is "Circus Lingo" by Joe McKennon. It's a self-published thing, from 1980, by, as he put it, "a man who was there." The back of it says he is an "internationally known circus and carnival trouper and historian."
"Possum belly queen"? That makes my day!
Grant Barrett said:
A booklet you might be interested in, if you can find it, is “Circus Lingo” by Joe McKennon. It's a self-published thing, from 1980, by, as he put it, “a man who was there.” The back of it says he is an “internationally known circus and carnival trouper and historian.”
Check your Friendly Neighborhood Public Library. (Mine, the Dallas Public Library, has a copy in the Fine Arts reference collection for in-house use.) Other libraries might have it available for check-out and/or be willing to borrow it from another library for you.