A TV presenter of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" lamented it would be a "jolly weezer" if the man made less than his wife on a game show. What did he mean?
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I suspect that "weezer" has been misheard and, as such, the question is fatally flawed.– GreybeardNov 22 at 10:23
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2 Answers
One meaning of wheezer is a bad joke - it makes you wheeze instead of laugh.
noun
3. a wheezing breath or sound.
4. an old and frequently used joke, saying, story, etc.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/wheezer
A possible implication is that it would create a situation that they will never live down.
It was probably not weezer but whizzer which the OED defines as "Something or someone extraordinary or wonderful; a ‘stunner’. slang."
Their examples range from 1888 to 1977 but it is common for old-fashioned slang to be used for humorous reasons.
While it means a good thing, it could be used sarcastically to mean a bad thing, or it could be taken as a good thing from the point of view of his wife (or even from the point of view of his marriage, i.e. not upsetting his wife).
- Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “whizzer, n.”, September 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5942914638
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1or wheezer, with an aitch. Can refer to a bad joke - dictionary.com/browse/wheezer Nov 21 at 10:24
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