Surely, each of us has heard the expression about some fraer, who was ruined by his own greed. The expression “the music played for a short time, the fraer danced for a short time” is also often used. What does this expression mean? Fraer - who is this anyway? Where did this word come from and what does it mean when viewed from different social angles.
Origin
According to historians, the word freier first appeared in the everyday life of the Germans several hundred years ago. From the ancient German "fraer" - who is it? This is a person who is completely free from any obligations, or a groom. There is also a translation where this word refers to a young man who often visits brothels and has enough money to rent a girl of easy virtue at night. A similar translation of "groom, beloved" is found in this word in Ukrainian explanatory dictionaries.
Thieves' jargon
It is not known whether the word, as they say, went from the German or Ukrainian lexicon to the people, but it was sewn there thoroughly. Scientists say that German was the closest, since it switched to Yiddish, and from there many words and expressions got into the thieves' thieves' vocabulary of pre-war and post-war times.
If we talk about the thieves' vocabulary, then this word can have a different meaning. Fraer trump is a person who was in prison and belongs to thieves. Fraer is civil - a man who has never been to prison, an intellectual, is a very tasty piece of money for bandits, hooligans and thieves. Even in the Polish thieves' jargon there is such a word. Among the Poles, a frajer is a simpleton who is very easy to deceive. It turns out that the languages are different, and a fraer is a fraer everywhere.
There are other slang variations that explain what "fraer" means. For example, this word can mean a prisoner, but one who has just begun his thieves' path and has not yet been ranked among the highest thieves' caste. Bandits and thieves are one thing, but a shady fraer is quite another.
The second group is allowed to rob, deceive. Such a fraer is considered a simpleton, a sucker, an inexperienced person. Quite often you can hear the phrase: “What am I, a fraer or something?”. It will mean that a person does not classify himself as one who is so easily deceived, robbed and cheated.
Dandy or dandy
What do explanatory dictionaries say? Fraser - who is this? They have several definitions of the word. First, it's just a man. Yes, many dictionaries write this way: fraer is a man. Surely, this refers to a person who cares for a woman or spends time with her. Secondly, this word denotes a very well and fashionably dressed person. Quite often in Soviet camps, this was the name given to people belonging to the politic althe elite. Political prisoners have always been an order of magnitude neater, they watched how they look even in such terrible conditions.
Expressions
So, we figured it out and answered the question: "Fraer - who is this?". However, with this word there is a huge mass of expressions and phrases, the meaning of which is also worth understanding.
- Fryer on reels - a person who has a cheerful, lively disposition. It is also called "Zivchik".
- Frawer - do not get what you want, make a mistake or even disgrace.
- The stuffed fraer is a person who may never have been in prison, but knows perfectly well all the laws and traditions of the thieves' world.
- Flying means trying to impersonate an experienced and seasoned thief who has spent a long time in prison. It can also mean banal boasting.
- “The music played for a short time, the fraer danced for a short time” - the phrase we mentioned above. It means that the reckless reveler has come to an end, the pleasures are ending, the moment of reckoning begins.
