Wide boy facts for kids
Wide boy is a British term for a man who lives by his wits, wheeling and dealing. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it is synonymous with spiv. The word "wide" used in this sense means wide-awake or sharp-witted. It applies to the wide-lapelled suits and broad ties, commonly called kippers, after the similarly broad fish. The term was used in a 1936 autobiography to describe criminal culture during the First World War. Newspapers of the late 1940s and 1950s often use both terms in the same article about the same person when dealing with ticket touts, fraudsters, and black market traders. It has become more generally used to describe a dishonest trader or a petty criminal who works by guile rather than force.
An early use of the term was in the 1933 film Friday the Thirteenth, where the character, played by Max Miller, a loud, quick-witted, Cockney market trader, is heard to say "I'm the widest boy ever put on a pair of shoes!"
..... During World War II such individuals became involved in the black market, but the term only began to appear in newspapers from 1947.
Fictional portrayals
Fictional wheeler-dealer characters such as Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, Frank Butcher from "EastEnders", Private Walker from Dad's Army, Jim London from Up the Elephant and Round the Castle, Vincent Swan from White Gold, and Flash Harry from the St Trinian's films, all exemplify various wide boy "types". The term was used as the title for the 1952 film starring Sydney Tafler and Susan Shaw, Wide Boy (film).
Other usage
"Wide boys" is used humorously but now commonly to refer to wingers in Association, Gaelic or Rugby Football.
See also
- Underground economy
- Teddy Boy
- Confidence trick
- Dave Courtney
