Fun collection of terms from the old-school traveling carnivals. A few examples:
Baby Needs Milk - When you see a fellow carny flirting with a townie, you might wander by and say this just to mess up your buddy's 'score', either as a joke or if you know that this particular townie has - oh, say, the police chief for a father.
Bozo - Character who insults customers to induce them to try to throw balls to spill him in a dunk tank. The joint is usually named "Dunk Bozo," in less sensitive days it was known as the "African Dip" or (in even older days) "Nigger Dip". Bozo's "calls" over a loudspeaker are very effective at drawing customers. Bozo is often made up as a sort of "nightmare clown," but (as in the great depiction in the Jodie Foster/Gary Busey movie "Carny") he's definitely not a sweet guy - his taunts grow more embarrassing, barbed at the start and increasing to real nastiness, trying to make the current mark so angry he'll continue throwing balls until he hits the switch and dunks his tormentor.
Freak Show - A show where human oddities displayed themselves (often selling photos, Bibles or other memorabilia). These were often ten-in-one shows and usually featured born freaks, 'made freaks' like tattooed people, and working acts like sword swallowers and fire eaters.
G-Top - The "G" is for "gambling." An "after-hours club" open only to carnies. A combined convenience store, bar, snack stand and casino. The gambling might be just a friendly (but wary) game of poker, or it might be organized and more elaborate. When the lights go out on the wheel, signaling that the lot is closed for the night, the G-top starts filling up. One former carny said, "You haven't played games unless you've played with people who do it all day for a living! - I've seen people lose a whole week's pay in 10 minutes - cars they worked a year for, the money they were going to eat on tomorrow. - That's how you learn the "tricks of the trade", in the G-Top."
Red Light Job - You are the victim of a red light job when you undertake some work on the lot and, when you go to collect your pay, all you see are the red taillights of the employer's car receding in the distance.
University Horn - One of the old indestructible, harsh-sounding, horn-shaped public-address speakers made by University Sound (also by Electro Voice and Atlas Sound), good for blasting the midway with your grind-show ballys (on an endless 8-track tape using a cheap pre-recorded tape recorded over on one of those awful 8-track home recorders). Simple PA hookups, including one or two university horns, were usually supplied by audio engineer Wally Baptist, who operated Baptist Sound in Illinois. You could frame a whole show with just Brill's Bible, the O'Henry banner catalog, and the Baptist Sound catalog.
Lots more at the site - a curious look at a part of America's past. Fairs these days are cleaned up a lot.
