Talk:kayfabe
Latest comment: 5 years ago by LlywelynII in topic Re etymology
Re etymology[edit]
Don't think of the word as kay-fabe, but as kafe-abe, and you can see that it's more or less "be fake" backwards. This seems more a reasonable theory to me than Pig Latin.
- That doesn't make any sense, although using the consonants K-F-B in backwards order and filling in the vowels seems to work. That said, its current official status is just "Unknown". — LlywelynII 07:21, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
- Here's an unsourced online article that relates it to a phone scam supposedly used by carnies. Seems to be more directly related to an admonition, though, letting the carnies know that a mark was around and they needed to put their game faces back on and not discuss theft &c. too openly. (See the quote about the AWA guys in an abandoned airport terminal.) — LlywelynII 09:01, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
- This source just relates it to 19th c. slang for "a confidence game" or "deception". Again no source, but includes the term kayfabian. This source, however, uses 'kayfabian' as a synonym for the mark rather than the carny. — LlywelynII 09:03, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
- This one sounds the closest: the old British and New York slang keep cavey meaning to keep a look-out. Several places make it posh schoolboy slang but Google also pulls up places where it's being attributed to 'gypsies', 'pikeys', &c... in other words, carnies. — LlywelynII 09:31, 13 August 2018 (UTC)