Spiv
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Look up spiv in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices. The goods are generally not what they seem or have been obtained illegally.
The term spiv was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war rationing period for black-market dealers.
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[edit] Origins
According to Eric Partridge[1] the word was originally racecourse slang, but had become widely accepted by 1950. It appeared in a paperback crime novel in 1934.[2]
The origin of 'spiv' is obscure.
- The Romany word spiv ("sparrow") was supposedly used by the criminal fraternity to indicate a small-time crook, con-man, black-marketeer, or fence rather than a "proper villain".
- Cockneys, meanwhile, claim it as backslang for VIPs (Very Important Persons) or a London Metropolitan Police acronym for Suspected Persons and Itinerant Vagrants (SPIVs).
- It may come from spiffy, meaning smartly dressed, as spivs are known for their loud and flashy clothing (velvet-collared jacket, loud kipper tie, cocked fedora hat). This might be an example of a reversed etymology: flashily dressed "spivs" might have been the source of the term, and then applied later when its origin was forgotten.
- It may also derive from spiff, a bonus for salespeople (especially drapers but later car salesmen etc.) for managing to sell excess or out of fashion stock. The seller might offer a discount, by splitting his commission with the customer. A seller of stolen goods could give this explanation for a bargain price.
The Oxford English Dictionary notes that "Spiv" was the nick-name of Henry 'Spiv' Bagster, a London small-time crook in the 1900s who was frequently arrested for illegal street trading and confidence tricks, and that national newspapers reported his court appearances in 1903-06.
Immediately after the Second World War, the comedian Arthur English had a successful career appearing as a spiv with a pencil moustache, wide-brimmed hat, light-coloured suit and a bright patterned tie, and this set the popular image.
[edit] Spiv cycle films
A series of British crime films produced about 1945 to 1950, during the time that rationing was still in effect, dealt with the black market and related underworld, and have been termed spiv movies or the spiv cycle by critics.[3] Examples are Brighton Rock and Night and the City in which the spiv is a main character. Other crime films which have been quoted as part of the spiv cycle – though not always featuring a spiv character just criminal dealings – are They Made Me a Fugitive, It Always Rains on Sunday, Odd Man Out, The Third Man and Waterloo Road.[4]
[edit] Other depictions of the spiv in popular media
The image of the spiv was used for the character Flash Harry in the film The Belles of St Trinian's and subsequent St Trinian's films, and the character Private Joe Walker in the TV series Dad's Army. The character Swinburne (played by Bruce Forsyth) in the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks (set in Second World War London) has a similar appearance, and offers to sell from a selection of watches which are pinned inside his coat. Another example of a spiv in children's fiction is Johnny Sharp in the 1948 novel The Otterbury Incident by Cecil Day-Lewis.
In Agatha Christie's play, The Mousetrap, the mysterious character of Mr. Paravicini is referred to as a spiv. He arrives unexpectedly at Monkswell Manor, a guesthouse that is the setting for the play, with only one small suitcase. It may be inferred that he has some kind of stolen goods in the case.
In The Kinks' rock opera Preservation: Acts 1 & 2 Ray Davies states that his character "Flash", at that point leader of the Government, had started out as a "Second Hand Car Spiv" in the song "Scum of the Earth".
The Discworld's Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler is a fantasy spiv, as is the character of Mundungus Fletcher in the Harry Potter series.
English singer-songwriter Joe Jackson based elements of his early public persona around that of the spiv, and labeled his own music as "spiv rock".[5] His use of spiv imagery is particularly evident on the cover of his second album, I'm the Man.
According to Peter Wollen, "The crucial difference between the spiv - a flashy black-marketeer - and the classic gangster was the degree of sympathy the spiv attracted among audiences weary of wartime and post-war shortages: black-marketeers may have been outside the law, but they performed an obvious public service."[6]
SPIV is a banking acronym for Special Purpose Investment Vehicle.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Partridge, E., (1966) Origins: A short etymological dictionary of modern English 4th ed
- ^ Axel Bracey (1934) School for Scoundrels (Rich and Cowan)
- ^ S. Chibnall & R. Murphy (eds) (1999) British Crime Cinema Routledge ISBN 0-415-16869-4
- ^ www.screenonline.org.uk
- ^ Henke, James (May 17, 1979). "Joe Jackson Puts His Best Shoe Forward". Rolling Stone (Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.) (291): 22.
- ^ BFI Sight and Sound, July 1999 Peter Wollen The Vienna Project
