Jam duff

[nq:1]From Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey: "His sexual preferences don't come into it. If you're asking me to make a guess, ... "The man's a jam duff." What the heck is a jam duff? Is that a common slang term for homosexual?[/nq]
Not at all common. At a guess, it is intended to be rhyming slang for "poof". The most commonly accepted rhyming slang term for "poof" is, however, "iron" as in "iron h

[nq:1]From Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey: "His sexual preferences don't come into it. If you're asking me to make a guess, ... "The man's a jam duff." What the heck is a jam duff? Is that a common slang term for homosexual?[/nq]
It is a slang term for a (male) homosexual. How common it is, I wouldn't know. Greene thinks it is rhyming slang for 'puff,' which he says is a variation on 'poof/pouff

[nq:1]From Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey: "His sexual preferences don't come into it. If you're asking me to make a guess, ... "The man's a jam duff." What the heck is a jam duff? Is that a common slang term for homosexual?[/nq]
I've never heard it, but 'duff' is a term for buttocks, and that could be the connection. I mean, linkage... I mean relationship... oh, fergit it.
john

[nq:1]From Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey: "His sexual preferences don't come into it. If you're asking me to make a guess, ... "The man's a jam duff." What the heck is a jam duff? Is that a common slang term for homosexual?[/nq]
A typesetter's error, probably. Duff jam is what the continentals will insist on serving for breakfast instead of proper marmalade.

(Proper answer: John Dean's

[nq:1]What the heck is a jam duff? Is that a common slang term for homosexual?[/nq]
Something like a Spotted , but with jam instead of raisins.

John W Hall (Email Removed)
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.
"Helping People Prosper in the Information Age"

[nq:2]From Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey: "His sexual preferences don't come ... jam duff? Is that a common slang term for homosexual?[/nq]
[nq:1]Not at all common. At a guess, it is intended to be rhyming slang for "poof". The most commonly accepted rhyming slang term for "poof" is, however, "iron" as in "iron hoof". No, I don't know either.[/nq]
Wow you don't hear that very often.
OK,

[nq:1]So putting it together, it's an institutional nickname for a not very interesting pudding made with jam, which became rhyming slang for "puff" or "poof," depending probably on your accent.[/nq]
Aren't "puff" and "poof" homonymous in some northern BrE dialects? In a recent thread this was suggested of East Shropshire and Liverpool:

[nq:1](Did you know J. Arthur Rank was rhyming slang for ****? Explains that guy hitting the gong....)[/nq]
As in "he's gone for a swift J Arthur".
This is also the root of 'Merchant Banker' as a term of contempt.

DC

[nq:2](Did you know J. Arthur Rank was rhyming slang for ****? Explains that guy hitting the gong....)[/nq]
[nq:1]As in "he's gone for a swift J Arthur".[/nq]
Alternatively, for a "Sherman".
[nq:1]This is also the root of 'Merchant Banker' as a term of contempt.[/nq]
What's the collective noun for bankers?
N jhapu.

Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[nq:2]So putting it together, it's an institutional nickname for a ... slang for "puff" or "poof," depending probably on your accent.[/nq]
I think this is true. Also "poove" (Private Eye, passim.)

Don Aitken
Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com".