Jailhouse insult

[Barrister]

Question is aimed at Strix or Seedy, but if anyone else knows feel free to chime in.

Apparently in both Yukon and in Edmonton, one of the worst things you can be called inside a jail is a "goof", or the ever popular "fucking goof".

Is that true in the US?  Anyone know why "goof", which sounds pretty tame to me, is such an insult?

[Drakken]

a goof is a child molester in prison that likes little boys, they must be housed in protective custody as they are most often murdered or beaten into comas. they are the lowest form of life in prison. they are killed as a status symbol.

the lowest of the low. a bottom feeder. Prison term for bitch. Fighting words in some cities.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=goof

[Barrister]

a goof is a child molester in prison that likes young boys.they must be kept in protective custody. quite often murdered or beaten into comas.

the lowest of the low. a bottom feeder. Prison term for bitch. Fighting words in some cities.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=goof

It may have started out as that, but the was our prisoners use it is more generic.  One of the other definitions seems to cover it:

the lowest of the low. a bottom feeder. Prison term for bitch. Fighting words in some cities.

But that doesn't really say anything I didn't already know.

[The Brain]

That's scary. What is Goofy?

[DGuller]

[Eddie Teach]

"I didn't say she was crazy. I said she was fucking Goofy!"

[Malthus]

a goof is a child molester in prison that likes young boys.they must be kept in protective custody. quite often murdered or beaten into comas.

the lowest of the low. a bottom feeder. Prison term for bitch. Fighting words in some cities.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=goof

It may have started out as that, but the was our prisoners use it is more generic.  One of the other definitions seems to cover it:

the lowest of the low. a bottom feeder. Prison term for bitch. Fighting words in some cities.

But that doesn't really say anything I didn't already know.

A couple of other definitions on that site may be what you are after:

Goof is a street definition, for an individul that cannot be trusted, and his/her word means nothing. A Goof lacks solidarity, integrity, loyality and honour. A goof at any given time will cut your throat and sell you out to serve himself.

That Mark guy is a goof and can't be trusted. Mark is a rat fink goof, for he told the cops that I was involved in a crime.

The word goof means your basiaclly every bad word in the book. You have done wrong. Once your labelled as a goof, your better off relocating to a new city, it might be so bad, you might as well move right out of the counrty.

I can't believe John gave the police a statement, we knew him since we were in pajamas and now he wants to sell us out like that. He is a fucking goof, and he better get the fuck out of dodge before he catches the bullet train.

Yeah, it's odd, because in non-low-class-criminal use the term "goof" is basically not very insulting, meaning something more like "a klutz" or "a silly person".

[Capetan Mihali]

Haven't run into it talking to clients in jail thus far.    A "chester" seems like a more popular term for a child molester at least here.  And obviously your snitches and informants are the lowest of the low.  But I don't see "goof" being attached to them.

More interesting to me are the sort of jailhouse legal terms that you have to pick up to communicate with clients.  "Running wild" = sentences running consecutively.  "Flattening" a sentence = serving every day of a sentence.  Doing time "on paper" = serving out the remainder of a sentence on probation/parole.  Those are the ones that have come up the most in the last couple of weeks.

[Barrister]

Maybe it's a Canadian, or even a Western Canadian, thing.   

But I've seen it in passing in many files, from my wife reporting what was said in jail, and from police officers.

And I've never heard those phrases up here Mihali.  Usually our career criminals know the exact court lingo and will talk about consecutive or concurrent sentences.

[Jacob]

About 15 years ago I used to go to a lot of shitty bars in Vancouver with a bunch shady characters, and on more than one occasion I saw the word "goof" triggering a "now I have to fight" response. Not "fucking cocksucker" or "shithead" or "idiot", those could be laughed off.

I still remember one dude arguing with his friends who were trying to hold him back from a stupid fight saying in an almost sad tone "but he called me a fucking goof", almost as if he didn't want to fight but he felt he had no choice.

Not sure of the other guy had meant it like that or was just a slumming college kid who'd accidentally used the wrong word.

But yeah, around here, at least amongst people who are a little rough around the edges they're apparently serious figthing words.

[Eddie Teach]

I've seen "fucking goof" used as a strong insult in a movie. Think it was one set in lower class Boston.

[Strix]

I haven't heard the term used in any context in Western NY or NC.

[Martinus]

"goof" = "gay" + "poof"?

[Razgovory]

I had a girlfriend who used to call me a goof.  It didn't seem that offensive at the time.  Hmmm... Now I must obsess over what she meant by this.

[Martinus]

Incidentally, according to the Urban Dictionary, "goof" means a pedophile who molests young boys in prison slang (at least this is the most common definition).