Some friends and I invented this word some time ago, and I think it needs a wider user-base. Mainly, it's used as a superlative for our common derogatory term, "dodgy" [which I believe is akin to 'sketchy', for those USns out there, and is pretty close to shonky]. Thus a really bad used-car salesman might be fronky.

Conveniently, however - as we discovered one evening on a drive - it also fits in very well with known quotes such as "Play that fronky music white boy."

go forth, my little word, and be used!

'sketchy'

Sketchy? I think this USn understands dodgy before he understands sketchy. Am I being affected by my status as geezer or is there a better word for this in USn? I usually think of used car salesmen as being sleazy.

"Play that fronky music white boy."

I'm sure the lovers of the music of Cesar Fronk will thonk you for that!

Here's another USn geezer checking in. To me dodgy sounds British. I would use sketchy . A search of past posts shows frequent use of both words.

Another apparently made-up word we use is grody, similar in meaning to gross or grubby.

Innerestin, Slithe. To me sketchy merely means poorly defined. Dodgy would mean somewhat suspect, but I don't think I would use it in this context. A used car salesman's techniques might be dodgy, but not the UCS his own sef.

Is a German beer. Over their they like their Fronk in steins monstrously.

I think the term "fronk" is favored among the young UHB's in New York City. It's so very metropolitan.

Is a German beer. Over there they like their Fronk in steins monstrously. LOL!

That's Fronk in schteens, to you!



The Only WO'N!

In reply to:

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A used car salesman's techniques might be dodgy, but not the UCS his own sef.

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You wouldn't describe him as a dodgy character, then? How about iffy? Does that ring any transatlantic bells? I've always been much amused by a bank here called Bank IFI. (I believe it's an acronym but no idea what for.)

Bingley

An American exchange student over here used sketchy, so that's my only knowledge of it; sorry if it was a little localised! Iffy is a great word; I'd use it in relation to food I wasn't sure I'd like to meet... and dodgy is a pretty generic term, here: people, ideas, situations... anything that appears to be dubious is dodgy !

sorry if it was a little localised!

Dunno if it's localized. It just hasn't made its way into my own personal lexicon. I don't think we tend to get much localized new slang these days. Things get created at whatever level and swapped around in the great American melting pot, the colleges and universities. You might get some lower class ghetto stuff stays localized and there's always old regionalisms that hang on, but even they are dying out. Anyone knows Bostonese know if they still talk about frappes?

My dad used to use the phrase "a sketchy character" meaning someone who looked a little disreputable. One time there was a cartoon in the paper or the New Yorker where two people (who were drawn well in the cartoon) were looking at another person (drawn sloppily) and one was saying "he looks like a sketchy character to me."

Anyone knows Bostonese know if they still talk about frappes?

Beats me. [pa-da-bom]

Certainly they did as recently as ten years ago.

Anyone knows Bostonese know if they still talk about frappes?

Some do, anyway. I had a great experience about a year ago in upstate New York. A friend and I were getting ice cream, and he asked for a chocolate frappe. The look on the cashier's face was priceless, like he asked her for a hot fudge sundae with anchovies and motor oil. Lucky I was there to translate.

there to translate

Or, when desiring a Coke® ordering a "tawnic".

We were in South Dakota, I think it was, once and ordered a black cow. We were told in no uncertain terms that they didn't do that sort of thing (with a perceived under text of what kind of preverts do you take us for!?) but were happily given a root beer float.

Fronk is also a Russian fragrance. Three wise cosmonauts took fronk incesnse in Mir.

I usually think of used car salesmen as being sleazy

In the 80s, in Oz, there was a comedy TV show (quite ahead of it's time, IMHO) called "Australia: You're standing in it" which featured a couple of Used Car Salesmen Wayne and Arthur Dodgy, henceforth known as the Dodgy Brothers. Their image, and the sketches they used to do, is probably the reason most Australians would think of UCSpeople as "dodgy".

In fact, after googling this, I've found that many Australian sites use the term "dodgy brothers" for any business which is very low standard eg. "the least said about the previous site created by some Dodgy Bros. Inc, the better". Pop culture strikes again, huh?

http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/australiastand.htm reference at bottom of page