Prof. R.'s definitions

keyfabe

A variation of the "carnival talk" word "kayfabe", meaning "keep quiet" or "keep secret".

This would be used as a form of verbal shorthand to remind someone else that they might be talking too much, not to talk around someone in earshot, or not to reveal a secret.

by Prof. R. June 21, 2005

chicken skin

Although this obviously has other definitions, it's used in Hawai'ian pidgin to mean "goose bumps."

Dat Exorcist movie give me da kine chicken skin!

by Prof. R. June 21, 2005

kayfabe

Wrestling term derived from "carnival talk" for the word "keep". Originally would have been pronounced more like "keel-feep". When said quickly, it sounds like kay-fabe. Used as shorthand term for "keep quiet", or "keep secret".

The word would not originally have been used as part of a sentence. It would have conveyed the meaning of a sentence in itself. The whole point of carnival talk was to speak quickly, and in manner that the "rubes" couldn't understand.

by Prof. R. September 11, 2003