joller, noun

/ˈdʒɔlə(r)/
Forms:
Also jawler.
Origin:
English, AfrikaansShow more From jol verb + English (or Afrikaans) agential suffix -er.
slang
1. One who frequents low places of entertainment; an unsavoury, thuggish youth. Also attributive.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 105A distinction is drawn in the half-world between the terms ‘ducktail’ and ‘joller’...The term ‘joller’ is believed to have originated from the Afrikaans word ‘jol’, meaning a festive party. People who attended such parties were accordingly referred to as ‘jollers’, but the word has degenerated in meaning and now signifies any person who ‘celebrates’ any and every occasion by fighting, swearing, drinking, and smoking dagga.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 105Down came a joller, singing the blues...And out came the dagga as he asked for a light.
1970 M.E. Tamlin Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeJawler. A layabout.
1972 Star 26 Oct.A young thug, rather more ‘joller’ in his talk than this one, ruminates in the condemned cell on the impulses welling within him when he committed murder.
1977 C. Hope in S. Gray Theatre Two (1981) 36You heard of my boetie, Paulie — ? And ou Abba and those jollers — ?
1982 Frontline Nov. 18The photographer was a character of exceptional colour. Bouncer, brawler, diver, drinker, jawler...Billy M— might have been to photography what Hemingway was to literature.
1985 H. Prendini in Style Oct. 39Southern Suburbs joller: No ways, my china! No ways I work under a black! GCM!
1989 Weekly Mail 20 Oct. 31The audience was nothing if not average: pantsulas rubbing shoulders with Boksburg jollers, blue collar workers with their bosses.
1991 M. Kantey All Tickets 53The supercool joller who leans against the dividing wall, dreaming of sixguns in the sunset.
2.
a. A hedonist; a fun-lover; one who often goes out to places of entertainment. Also attributive. See also jol verb sense 3.
1963 [see sense 1].
1971 E. Higgins Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)The others in the residence..think he is not enough of a joller ou because he takes his intellectual commitments too seriously.
1978 Sunday Times 8 Oct. (Mag. Sect.) 16His pal, Stevie, is..a ‘joller’ with a tremendous sense of fun whose attitude to life is one of careless abandon.
1983 Sunday Times 18 Sept. (Lifestyle) 1Blossom — a dedicated joller from Bez Valley who for years graced (or disgraced) the pages of fashion mags.
1985 Cape Times 23 Oct.Francis of Assissi..wasn’t always saintly. In fact, he was something of a joller in his youth.
1986 Style May 41I’m always gated. That’s why I’m not a joller.
1986 Cape Times 28 Jan. 16 (advt)Ideologically sound joller required to share..house.
1989 Weekly Mail 13 Oct. 36A chic supper club attracting the older, more moneyed jollers.
1990 A. Rice in Frontline Dec. 15Nine million potential revellers, nine million partygoers perhaps, maybe even nine million merrymakers, but jollers? You don’t get many of them to the hectare in good old London town.
1993 S. Garratt in Cape Argus 12 Aug. (Tonight) 6Any experienced joller will tell you that there is one time when peace really does reign, and that’s the morning after.
b. One attending a party, concert, or other social gathering; one of a group of people who are out on the town. See also jol verb sense 3.
1986 A. Donaldson in Style May 108As we leave, fellow-joller Cheryl..claimed that some jock had put some thing in her palm as she passed a table.
1988 Weekly Mail 18 Oct. 19The band blueses along behind him. The jollers sway.
1990 Top Forty July 12A lot of expectant jollers were upset that Johannes Kerkorrel had taken his ‘gereformeerde blues’ off to Europe just before the concert.
3. A player (of a game). See also jol verb sense 5.
1988 I. Louw in Talk Sept. 1988 5Enter number 2. First team jorler, renegade and real hot property. She was only in standard seven — he was in Matric.
One who frequents low places of entertainment; an unsavoury, thuggish youth. Also attributive.
A hedonist; a fun-lover; one who often goes out to places of entertainment. Also attributive.
One attending a party, concert, or other social gathering; one of a group of people who are out on the town.
A player (of a game).
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slang
jol, verbv.jolling, verbal nounvbl n.
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