- Back lot, Back yard: location behind the circus big top that was "off limits" to the general public that contained the dressing rooms, ring livestock tents, wardrobe and costume departments, doctor's wagon, tailor's wagon and performer's rest areas in the back yard of railroad-transported circuses
- Bally, Ballyhoo: carny term for a free teaser show given outside a sideshow to attract a "tip"
- Big Top: main canvas tent of a circus
- Blade Glommer: carny term for "sword swallower" (see also "Steel Slurper")
- Blockhead: a sideshow act in which a performer drives a nail, spike, ice pick, scissors, running drill or other object into the nasal passage, originally performed as part of a human pincushion act. The act appears as early as 1906 in a manuscript by Walter Deland. The act was made famous by Melvin Burkhart who began performing it in 1929, but it was too "strong" for many of the audiences of the day. It went over better at the Ripley's Odditorium at the New York World's Fair of 1930-1940, where Robert Ripley dubbed Burkhart "The Human Blockhead". a nickname he wore proudly. Many current performers replicate Burkhart's act, sometimes line for line, as an homage to him.
- Blow-off: an extra attraction, sometimes of an adult nature, added at the end of a ten-in-one show for an additional fee.
- Bouncers: carny term for exhibits of large glass bottles containing babies preserved in formaldehyde, called "bouncers" because they floated or "bounced" whenever the bottle was moved
- Burr: Snag or sharp nick in a sword blade that must be filed and sanded before blade can be safely swallowed
- Carny: someone who works in a carnival. The term can also be applied to the carnival itself.
- Cutting up jackpots: (See Jackpot)
- Dime Museum, Dime Show: a collection of often lurid and sensational curiosities, monstrosities, and freaks exhibited for a single low price of admission, usually a dime. PT Barnum started his first American Dime Museum in 1840 and it only cost a dime to enter.
- Donniker: carny term for portable bathroom, Porta-Potty
- Drop: a sword swallower's act of holding a sword in the throat using the muscles of the esophagus, then relaxing these muscles to allow the sword to drop down the throat
- Fakir wandering Middle Eastern or South Asian ascetic, mystic, dervish or monk who sometimes performed fakir stunts such as sword swallowing, fire-eating, bed of nails, or snake charming
- Gaff: gimmicked or rigged sword or prop often used by magicians to imitate sword swallowers. A "gaff" can also be a created "creature" such as a "Fiji mermaid" to pull people into the sideshow. The term "gaff" comes from the "gaff" fishing tool used to pull fish in; in sideshow terms, a "gaff" can be used to pull people into the sideshow
- Grind, Grind Show: a sideshow pitch that continuously repeats itself for a constantly changing audience
- Hot Sandwich: Multiple swords "sandwiched" together at the same time with a lit cigarette wedged between them and withdrawn with the cigarette still lit
- Jackpot: tall tales and anecdotes told by circus/sideshow performers about life with the circus/sideshow. "Cutting up jackpots" is the expression given to swapping these stories
- Joey: circus term for circus clown, named after early clown Joseph Grimaldi
- Mark: carny term for towners or townspeople who become sideshow audience/customers (see also "Rube", "Towner")
- Midway: circus/carny term for the row of attractions located "midway" to the circus big top
- Mud show: circus that sets up its canvas big top on grass lots that often turn muddy over time
- Multiples: multiple swords swallowed at the same time (also known as "Sandwich" or "Sword Sandwich")
- Neon: neon tube swallowed by some sword swallowers to illuminate the throat and sometimes the chest
- Pickled Punks: carny term for exhibits of large glass bottles containing babies preserved in formaldehyde
- Rube: carny term for towners or townspeople who become sideshow audience/customers (see also "Mark", "Towner")
- Sandwich: multiple swords swallowed "sandwiched" together at the same time (see "Multiples")
- Shimmy Shawobble, Shimmy Shwabble: sword swallower Alex Linton's feature act, where a serpentine sword or plated pin bent into a series of "S" curves is swallowed down the throat, making the Adam's Apple visibly wobble from side to side as the serpentine sword or S-pin slides up and down the throat
- Steel Slurper: carny term for "sword swallower" (see also "Blade Glommer")
- Sword Sandwich: multiple swords swallowed at the same time (see "Multiples")
- Talker: carny term for the person who "talks" in front of a sideshow attraction in order to attract "marks" and "turn a tip". When done outside on the "bally", he is known as an "outside talker" (never "barker"); When done inside the tent, he is known as an "inside talker" or "lecturer"
- Ten-in-One (10-in-1): a carnival midway show with ten attractions inside one show (sideshows could have more or less than ten attractions, but they were still called "Ten-in-ones")
- Tip: sideshow carny term for a crowd of prospective customers that gathers to hear a "bally" pitch. An "outside talker" will "work a tip", "build a tip", "hold a tip" and "turn a tip" so that customers pay their money to enter the sideshow, hopefully without losing the crowd's interest and "blowing a tip."
- Towner: carny term for local townspeople who become sideshow audience/customers (see also "Mark", "Rube")
- Turn a Tip: sideshow term for the talker's act of convincing the audience to enter the sideshow
|
