Re: Gunzelling

["John Kerley" <deaftech@ozemail.com.au>]

David McLoughlin <davemcl*PISSOFFSPAMMERS*@iprolink.co.nzzzzz> wrote in
message 3AEE588F.1D37@iprolink.co.nzzzzz">news:3AEE588F.1D37@iprolink.co.nzzzzz...
> Ken Andrew wrote:
> >
> > Would some kind soul be good enough to define the term 'gunzelling'?
>
>
> From the mtut jargon file:
>
>
> GUNZEL - a transit, especially train fanatic. GUNZEL. According to Bob
> Merchant, editor of the Australian enthusiasts' journal "Trolley Wire,"
> the term was first used by Sydney Tramway Museum members in the early
> 1960s to describe certain  enthusiasts in the state of Victoria
> (Australia) who took their hobby a bit too seriously. The term comes
> from the film "The Maltese Falcon" in which Elisha Cook Jnr, played
> Wilmer, Sydney Greenstreet's twisted gun-slinger (gunsel in American
> gangster slang). The film has been described as one in which there
> wasn't one decent person in the whole film.  The gunsel in the film was
> what we would describe today as a "Gunzel", a bit thick to say the
> least.  Before Puffing Billy (a heritage steam train in the ranges
> outside Melbourne) issued their "Gunzel Pass" a few years back, their
> president, Phil Avard, checked with the STM as to the meaning of the
> word and its origin.  Phil, being a bit of a film buff, understood
> immediately and the pass was issued.  Originally, one did not call a
> person a Gunzel to their face as it was a bit derogatory. The term
> Gunzel in the Australian sense was first used by Dick Jones, Don
> Campbell and Bill Parkinson, all of whom are still members of the STM.
> The term has since been picked up by New Zealand, UK and some US
> railfans. See also ANORAK.

You are quite right in identifying the Puff railway enthusiasts' Gala Day
held about 13 years ago as probably being the turning point when the term
gunzel started to gain a bit of respectability although there are still a
few diehards that even today I can get a rise out of by asking how their
gunzelling is going.

The "Gunzel Pass" was a lineside pass for motorcaders in attempt to get a
little revenue out of them in return for which they received a timetable and
"official" permission to be on railway property!  The idea was thought up by
myself and a fellow gunzel who were the organizers of the day.  We had some
trepidation as to how it would go over but decided to go with it anyway.
Phil A'Vard was not President of the Society, but Vice-President until he
was voted off the committee a couple of years ago.  The issuing of the pass
was not contingent on his say so, although he may well have checked out the
meaning of gunzel in the manner described.

Shortly after we "outed" the term, the Victorian branch of the AFULE also
used gunzel in a positive sense in a mailout to Victorian enthusiasts.  I
suspect there may have been a PB connection here as well as at that time
another PB gunzel was high up in that organization.  There was also a
Tramway connection in the gaining of respectability for the term in
Victoria.  During the campaign to keep conductors an article in The Age on
tramway enthusiasts referred to them positively as gunzels.

On the British front, the term "gricer" used to be used in similar way to
that in which gunzel used to be used here i.e. "All those other nutty
railway enthusiasts - but not me!"  However as you point out, it seems to be
being replaced by "anorak", that ubiquitous piece of British apparel that
they apparently wear - although I must admit mine still keeps me very warm!

Finally, another addition to the list of gunzelalia, as used in some
quarters - Gunzelphone: a device used when gunzelling to find out what's
going on (aka a scanner)

Well, that's my 412 pence worth  (now there is the starting point for
another thread)

Yours in gunzelling,

John Kerley