Jonas, a high-school English teacher from Chatham, Virginia, is curious about the word jabroni (also spelled jabroney, jabronie, and jabrony), meaning a “chump” or “palooka.” It may come from a Milanese dialect word, jamboni...
Pro wrestling, a fake sport with a very real following, has a trove of lingo all its own that can be found in the newsletter and website PW Torch. One saying, “red means green,” refers to the fact that a wrestler who winds up bloody will...
Who you calling a jabronie? And what exactly is a jabronie? (Or a jaboney, jadroney, jambone, jiboney, gibroni, gibroney, gabroney, jobroni, jobrone, etc.) This playful insult, meaning a “rube” or “loser,” traces to the 1920s, when Italian...
Here’s a variant of a phrase that’s familiar to many African-Americans, but virtually unknown to most others: “I’m so broke I couldn’t buy a louse a wrestling jacket.” What’s its meaning and origin...
shit the bed v. phr.— Note: Used in professional wrestling to mean “have stage fright” or “to be unable to go through with a plan.” «A: It is the total package, yes. It is the charisma. It the ability to take the...
worked adj.— «At this point it is unsure if this is real or “worked” (a professional wrestling term meaning “scripted”) but all early indicators point to this event being a real life situation.» —“Wrestling...