different between gunsel vs gunzel

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???ns?l/

Etymology 1

From Yiddish ??????? (gendzl, “gosling”), from Middle High German gensel, diminutive of gans (“goose”).

Noun

gunsel (plural gunsels)

1. (slang, dated) Synonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a (usually passive) homosexual partner.
   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, [p. http://books.google.com/books?id=1uVajyyVaVkC&pg=RA1-PA13 13]:

     The boy’s eyes […] ran over Spade’s body from shoulders to knees […]
     “Another thing,” Spade repeated, glaring at the boy: “Keep that gunsel away from me while you’re making up your mind. I’ll kill him […] ”

2. (slang, dated) Synonym of bottom: a passive partner in a male homosexual relationship.
3. (prison slang, dated) Synonym of bitch: a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:male homosexual

Etymology 2

By misunderstanding of the 1929 Maltese Falcon quotation above (which survived in a popular 1941 film adaptation). The novel was originally serialized in a magazine, Black Mask, whose editor refused to allow vulgarities. Hammett used the word gunsel knowing that the editor would likely misunderstand it as relating to gun, and therefore allow it.

Noun

gunsel (plural gunsels)

1. A gun-carrying hoodlum or other criminal.

References

See also

• gunzel

Anagrams

• Leungs, lunges

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain; possibly from gunsel (“stupid or contemptible fellow, creep; young man kept for homosexual purposes, catamite”), from Yiddish ??????? (gendzl, “gosling”), from Middle High German gensel,diminutive of gans (“goose”) (compare German Gänslein (“gosling”), from Gans (“goose”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *??h?éns (“goose”)).

There is an unverified suggestion that the word was first used in the 1960s by staff of the Sydney Tramway Museum in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, to describe shabbily dressed trainspotters. They were apparently influenced by the word gunsel (“a gun-carrying hoodlum”), which had been popularized in the film The Maltese Falcon (1941) based on the 1929 novel of the same name by American author Dashiell Hammet (1894–1961).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /???nzl?/
• Hyphenation: gun?zel

Noun

gunzel (plural gunzels)

1. (Australia) A railway or tram enthusiast; particularly (formerly derogatory) one who is overly enthusiastic or foolish.
2. (Australia, by extension) An enthusiast or geek with a specific interest.
3. (US) Alternative spelling of gunsel.

Synonyms

• (railway or tram enthusiast): ferroequinologist (humorous, nonstandard), foamer, railfan (US), trainspotter

Verb

gunzel (third-person singular simple present gunzels, present participle gunzelling, simple past and past participle gunzelled)

1. (intransitive) To engage in railway enthusiast activities.

References

Further reading

• railfan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia