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Wide boy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term "wide boy" first appeared during the Second World War in the United Kingdom. Some enterprising people took it upon themselves to exploit rationing and do deals with American servicemen to supply locals with much needed luxuries like chocolate and nylons. Such characters were referred to as wide boys. More recently it has come to mean anyone who flashes his material wealth around without any obvious means of getting it. The type is often associated with many forms of petty criminal behaviour. Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, Flash Harry from the St Trinian's books and movies, Private Walker from Dad's Army and Arthur Daley from Minder are all fictional examples of the wide boy type, although the former is more precisely a spiv.