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Wide boy is a British term for a man who lives by his wits, wheeling and dealing. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' it is synonymous with spiv.〔Oxford English Dictionary accessed 13 Dec 2010〕 The word "wide" used in this sense means wide-awake or sharp-witted.〔 Newspapers of the late 1940s and 1950s often use both terms in the same article about the same person when dealing with ticket touts, fraudsters and black market traders. It has become more generally used to describe a dishonest trader or a petty criminal who works by guile rather than force. The term came to public attention in 1937 with the publication of ''Wide Boys Never Work'' by Robert Westerby,〔Robert Westerby (1937). ''Wide Boys Never Work''. London: Arthur Barker〕 a novel about gamblers and hustlers. During World War II such individuals became involved in the black market, but the term only began to appear in newspapers from 1947.〔''People'', 22 June 1947〕〔''Daily Mirror'', 14 October 1947〕 ==Fictional portrayals== Fictional wheeler-dealer Cockney characters such as Del Boy from ''Only Fools and Horses'', Frank Butcher from "Eastenders", Private Walker from ''Dad's Army'', Arthur Daley from ''Minder'', Mike from ''The Young Ones'', Harry Robinson from ''The Ladykillers'', and Flash Harry from the ''St Trinian's'' books and films, all exemplify various wide boy "types". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wide boy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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