Jul
British newspaper columnists have gone frothy mad over the Chugger explosion
Over food and drinks yesterday with book agent and mujer fabulosa Madeleine Morel, I learned a new word: Chugger.
Chugger, as Madeleine explained in her droll manner, a sweating glass of Sancerre in her hand, is what you get by compressing “charity mugger” into two syllables.
And, she added, a chugger is one of those people you constantly find on the sidewalks of Manhattan — and maybe also San Fran, Chicago and even L.A., if L.A. had “sides” where people actually “walked” — who stand around with clipboards waiting to mug passers by on behalf of some charitable cause. Thus, the slightly derisive appellation, Chugger.
I don’t find them too annoying, actually. Partly because I don’t find them too often, and because I live in Brooklyn, where fewer Chuggers roam the broken concrete in search of tax-deductible donations.
So thanks to Madeleine Morel at Bookhaven. That was a good one.
Almost as good as Gongoozler. Which the book, “Depraved and Insulting English,” by Peter Novobatzky and Ammon Shea, defines thusly:
Gongoozler. / gon GOOZ ler / a dimwit who stares at unusual things.
Come to think of it, I may frequently veer into gongoozler territory, myself.
By the way, this post has nothing to do with Roadmonkey, adventure philanthropy, or our upcoming cycling & farm-building expedition to Vietnam in November.
Be kind to Chuggers. They obviously believe in what they’re doing enough to risk scorn, abuse and, worst of all, indifference.
Paul
paul@roadmonkey.net
