The Wookiee
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The Meaning of Palookaville
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The Wookiee
Back From The Dead
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Palooka
The word has two main senses. One refers to an unsuccessful boxer, especially one who is both large and stupid, the other to any large and stupid or clumsy person, an oaf or lout.
Many older people first came across the word as the name of the boxer in Ham Fisher’s famous comic strip. This first appeared in 1928; it featured the eponymous Joe Palooka as a slow-witted and inarticulate boxer, even though “his heart was pure and his ideals high”. But Ham Fisher didn’t invent the word: it had been around for several years as a slang term and is first recorded in print in 1925. The boxing associations seem to have been particularly strong, to judge from the magazine The Ring, which in November 1926 glossed the word to mean “A tenth rater, a boxer without ability, a nobody” and which implied it had been known for some time.
It’s often said that palooka was the invention of Jack Conway, a former baseball player who became the editor of Variety magazine; he is credited by some with creating a whole group of slang terms that include pushover and baloney. Whether he actually invented palooka, or popularised it, we have no way of knowing, nor do we have any idea what it was based on.
Some of Joe Palooka’s adventures were made into films, and Palookaville came to be a slang term for a hick town full of gentle losers.
The word has two main senses. One refers to an unsuccessful boxer, especially one who is both large and stupid, the other to any large and stupid or clumsy person, an oaf or lout.
Many older people first came across the word as the name of the boxer in Ham Fisher’s famous comic strip. This first appeared in 1928; it featured the eponymous Joe Palooka as a slow-witted and inarticulate boxer, even though “his heart was pure and his ideals high”. But Ham Fisher didn’t invent the word: it had been around for several years as a slang term and is first recorded in print in 1925. The boxing associations seem to have been particularly strong, to judge from the magazine The Ring, which in November 1926 glossed the word to mean “A tenth rater, a boxer without ability, a nobody” and which implied it had been known for some time.
It’s often said that palooka was the invention of Jack Conway, a former baseball player who became the editor of Variety magazine; he is credited by some with creating a whole group of slang terms that include pushover and baloney. Whether he actually invented palooka, or popularised it, we have no way of knowing, nor do we have any idea what it was based on.
Some of Joe Palooka’s adventures were made into films, and Palookaville came to be a slang term for a hick town full of gentle losers.
lincs seagull
New member
The Wookiee said:
no he has named it after croydon
Tom Bombadil
Well-known member
Wasn't there a film called Palookaville a few years back.
CAFC Matt
New member
There was also a film called On The Waterfront with Marlon Brando playing a boxer, which includes the line (from Brando's character) "I could have been a contender". Shortly after this he is reminded of how he was given a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
In the Sheffield United issue of the club programme we will be running a competition to win the DVD of this movie and signed copies of Palookaville - courtesy of HMV and Skint Records.
In the Sheffield United issue of the club programme we will be running a competition to win the DVD of this movie and signed copies of Palookaville - courtesy of HMV and Skint Records.
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Tom Bombadil
Well-known member
So I assume Norm got the name from the Brando fillum and not the one with Vincent Gallo.
Strike
Sussex Border Front
Cool I am going to get the kit once I get some cash. It will stop non Albion fans taking the mickey out of the Skint sponsor.