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.

keyfabe by Prof. R. June 21, 2005

kayfabe 

Term in pro wrestling. Kayfabe was the unsaid rule that the wrestlers should stay in character during the show and in public appearences in order to maintain a feeling of reality (albeit suspended) among the fans

kayfabe by Bigrattus June 5, 2003

White Collar Kayfabe 

In a business environment, everyone plays their roles as designed and expected.

The natural hierarchy is rarely rocked, due to the fear of sticking out, seeming petty, and of being blackballed.

Vendors over laugh at jokes to secure contracts, CEOs compliment staff in public because they once read something that says to compliment people in public, and nervous account executives overemphasize their local weather to open up zoom calls.

Essentially, everyone does and acts as predicted and as they are supposed to.

Kayfabe is rarely broken.

Yurk: Hey, how is that RFP you are working on, I know it has been taking up alot of your time.

Rick: It has. I feel like breaking White Collar Kayfabe and just telling the prospect how smart they would look to their bosses by going with us, and how their history of stealing ideas from RFPs and labelling them as their own is why other companies don't want to work with them, but I can't. I have to play *THE GAME*.

Yurk: Ya, you definitely CAN'T break White Collar Kayfabe, you would get blackballed in your industry.

White Collar Kayfabe by Mike109999 February 21, 2022

Kayfabe 

A literary device used in professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not of a staged or predetermined nature of any kind. Kayfabe has also evolved to become a code word of sorts for maintaining this "reality" within the direct or indirect presence of the general public.

"Wrestling is real to me 'cause Kayfabe tells me so"

Kayfabe by cyberphunkisms November 9, 2018

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.

kayfabe by Prof. R. September 11, 2003

kayfabe 

Wrestling term meaning "top secret." It refers to the practice of maintaining the illusion that wrestling was 100% genuine.

The real reason for the outcome of the match is kayfabe.

kayfabe by fishmagic October 21, 2003

kayfabe 

the use of terms (at one time unknown to fans) that would conceal the illusion of scripted wrestling. comes from the pig-latin pronunciation of the word, fake (akefay)

here come the fans, kayfabe time.

kayfabe by Amarac Honj October 14, 2012