Bodgies and Widgies

Bodgies and Widgies

Bodgies and Widgies refer to a youth subculture that existed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1950s, similar to the Teddy Boy culture in the UK or Greaser culture in the US.

The males were called Bodgies and the females were called Widgies. Bodgies were well-known for their often loutish behaviour. On February 1, 1951 the "Sydney Morning Herald" wrote on its front page:

"What with "bodgies" growing their hair long and getting around in satin shirts, and "weegies" cutting their hair short and wearing jeans, confusion seems to be arising about the sex of some Australian adolescents." [ [http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/ozwords/Nov%202002/Bodgie.html Aussie Words Bodgie ] ] .

The Mazengarb Report (Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents) of 1954 was partly a response to the emergence of the bodgie & widgie subculture.

In 1956, the "Sydney Morning Herald" suggested:

"The first bodgies were World War 2 Australian seamen who as well as impersonating Americans were black marketers and the first bodgie gang was the ‘Woolloomooloo Yanks’ who congregated in Cathedral Street Woolloomooloo. By 1948, about 200 bodgies were regularly frequenting Kings Cross milk bars. Soon, bodgie gangs formed at other inner-Sydney locations. After a time, moccasins and American drape suits complete with pegged trousers replaced their attire of blue jeans and leather American Airline jackets or zoot suits. For bodgies, almost all of whom were working class, emulating the high status Americans who had so recently occupied Australia as military personnel was easier than achieving upward social mobility. [Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 1956] "

In 1983, the "Melbourne Age" suggested:

"the term "bodgie" arose around the Darlinghurst area in Sydney. It was just after the end of World War II and rationing had caused a flourishing black market in American-made cloth. "People used to try and pass off inferior cloth as American-made when in fact it was not: so it was called bodgie"... "When some of the young guys started talking with American accents to big-note themselves they were called bodgies" [Melbourne Age, 12 August, p.2] "

References

ee also

* Beatniks
* Bogan
* Sharpies
* Skinhead

External links

* [http://maxephotos.net/scarborough_concert-Jan05.htm Scarborough Beach once again comes alive to revive the infamous Snake Pit days, when the bodgies and the widgies danced to rock ”n‘ roll music]
* [http://www.mggraphics.com.au/scarb/history2.html Scarborough Beach History Site - The Snake Pit showing a picture of bodgies and widgees dancing in the 1950s]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_people/Transcripts/s781096.htm George Negus Tonight :: people :: Transcripts :: Gang History]
* [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00000633/01/moore_keith.pdf Bodgies, widgies and moral panic in Australia 1955 – 1959, Paper presented to the Social Change in the 21st Century Conference]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Widgy — a bodgy s girlfriend; (in the 1950s and 60s) a young woman belonging to an anti social subculture (known as bodgies and widgies ) that rejected the morality and general world view of the time. Widgies were especially noted for wild behaviour,… …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • widgy — Australian Slang a bodgy s girlfriend; (in the 1950s and 60s) a young woman belonging to an anti social subculture (known as bodgies and widgies ) that rejected the morality and general world view of the time. Widgies were especially noted for… …   English dialects glossary

  • Bodge — 1. do something incorrectly but so as to make it appear right; to do something or make something in a sloppy manner: I bodged together a few examples ; 2. ruin; wreck: Now you ve really bodged it ; 3. (in the 1950s and 60s) a young man belonging… …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • Bodgy — 1) worthless or faulty product ( That watch is a bit bodgy! ); false; assumed; bad; 2) (in 1950s and 60s) young man belonging to an anti social subculture (known as bodgies and widgies) that rejected the morality and general world view of the… …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • bodge — Australian Slang 1. do something incorrectly but so as to make it appear right; to do something or make something in a sloppy manner: I bodged together a few examples ; 2. ruin; wreck: Now you ve really bodged it ; 3. (in the 1950s and 60s) a… …   English dialects glossary

  • bodgy — Australian Slang 1. worthless or faulty product ( That watch is a bit bodgy! ); false; assumed; bad; 2. (in 1950s and 60s) young man belonging to an anti social subculture (known as bodgies and widgies) that rejected the morality and general… …   English dialects glossary

  • sharpies — n pl Australian members of a short lived teenage youth movement of the 1950s who were con temporaries of the bodgies and widgies. Sharpies were short haired, aggressive and less flamboyant than the teddy boy like bodgies …   Contemporary slang

  • Bogan — The term bogan (pronEng|ˈboʊgən, rhyming with slogan ) is Australian and New Zealand English slang, usually pejorative, for a person who is, or is perceived to be, of a lower class background. According to the stereotype, the speech and… …   Wikipedia

  • Bodgie — is an Australian word meaning:*Dubious, suspect, or of inferior quality, probably synonymous with the British dodgy .* It also refers to the male of Bodgies and Widgies, an Australian youth subculture of the 1950s …   Wikipedia

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