On The Streets

I thought the best way to establish the general publics opinion of the geezer, was to take my studies onto the streets. Armed with notepad and pen, and a Fred Perry polo shirt, I quite nervously walked into Soho at around 10pm looking for a range of people to ask, 'What makes a Geezer'?

I approached unsuspecting drunks, and hit them with some quick fire questions. And heres the results I got...

Andrew Milton - 42 from Basingstoke, Hampshire

'What do you think makes an essential Geezer?'

'Twitchy fag smoker, conceals cigarette with hand. Women are called 'luv.' Dodgy deals. 15 pints & still not pissed. Loudly laughs in the pub. Always the possibility of violence. May have a knife. Has a hard dog. Loves his mum. Tattoos. Single earring. Sovereigns. In & out of work. Reads the Sun. Looks at tits. Shaved head. Knows cars. No licence/tax/MOT though. Plays reggae or dance music very loud even when over 40. Has been 'inside'. Hates nonces.'

James Winnersh - 21 from Reading, Berkshire

'Could you describe what you think a geezer is?'

'I think my Brother is a bit of a geezer, He does engineering at college and has a girlfriend called Stacey who always gets into fights down our local pub. Apart from him, I would say that that guy from 'The Streets' is a geezer. He always says 'mug'.'

Rudi Henley - 22 from Brighton, East Sussex

'How do you feel about the term 'Geezer''

'The Geezer appears to us today as nothing but an exaggeration; a caricature of it's former existence. Its presentation in film, television and music has done nothing but stereotype the Geezer, tearing it from its rightful place in dingy east-end pubs full of smoke, swearing and stolen sky sports into another stock character for Hollywood to exploit and then discard, along with the slapstick comic and bitchy cheerleader. The Geezer is no longer something people are born into, it is something people are striving to become; Mockney accents, acting hard, pretending football is all you care about, these things aren't truly geez. They are but the popular culture prescribed symptoms of every wannabe Geezer in the country, and we have mass culture to thank for it. Call me a traditionalist, but for me the 'true Geezer' died when people began to think that dropping ever consonant they could gave them a cockney accent or that drinking Stella makes you hard. The days of the true Geezer are long gone, replaced by this mass created cultural stereotype that your mate from Surrey studying Maths thinks he can be.'

Max Mockett - 23 - New York City, U.S.A

'What's the American view on the term 'Geezer', not the old man but the football hooligan.'

'I thought Geezer was an acronym for Grannystabbing, elation-ending, zidovudine-eating retard. Aren't they the ones that peruse the streets like vultures, waiting to pick off some stray wilder beast of a woman to take back to their little hovel of a room and rape? Everything they do is wrong by definition. They straddle the chasm between humanity and nothingness, doing justice to neither. The drivel that spurts from their mouth disgusts every non-geezer in their proximity, leaving those that hear their vacuous words with a feeling akin to post-masturbation gloom. Only one geezer has ever voted, and that was in the election of Robert Mugabe, who won by a single vote. Geezers pass on their genes not to their children, but to their friends, by osmosis. Anyone that is a friend of a geezer can only risk 20 minutes of exposure per day, otherwise he too will become riddled with the malignant tumor of wank.

Taking to the streets helped me understand the publics general perception on the Geezer. Perhaps quite a cynical slant from most people aided my view that the Geezer does not obtain much respect for his antics in the real world.

Photo Source; Soho Theatre