Lenguajes de programación utilizadas

"He wore black denim t r o u s e rs and motorcycle boots

And a black le a t h e r Jacket with an eag le on the back

He had a hopped-up ' s i c k l e that took o f f lik e a gun

7 That f o o l was the t e r r o r of Highway 101."

Motorcycle r i d e r s got to g e th e r, hung out In b a r s , went away f o r weekends, and o c c a s io n a lly r a i s e d a l i t t l e h e l l . As time went on, the beginnings of a d i s t i n c t i v e b ik er subculture

began to emerge on the s t r e e t s of the g h e t t o . Riders a f f e c t e d

a s i m i l a r s ty le of d re s s In the main, e x - U .S .Airforce le a t h e r f l y i n g Jackets, caps, g o g g le s , and heavy e n g i n e e r 's boo ts. There was a t th is time, no question of fa s h i o n In v o lv ed, no

sty le f o r I t s own sake. I n d iv i d u a ls merely appropriated the

most s u i t a b le c lo th in g f o r the Job, c l o t h i n g that was cheap, p l e n t i f u l , durable and protected the body from the worst of

the elements encountered w h ils t aboard the motorcycle. There

was however a l s o a strong attachment amongst the e a r l y American b i k e r s , the m ajority of them being ex-servicem en, to such

c l o t h i n g . They f e l t estran ge d , a l ie n a t e d from the s o c ie ty to which they had re tu rn ed , and sought comradeship amongst

those who found themselves In a s i m i l a r p o s i t i o n . The wearing

of service gear engendered f e e l i n g s of group s o l i d a r i t y , r e c o l l e c t i o n s of the times when they had been fo rced to act In unison l i t e r a l l y in order to s u r v iv e . I t was an e x t e r n a l badge of common i d e n t i t y . I t to ld the o th e r delinquent

denizens o f the ghetto that they were both d i f f e r e n t as I n d i v i d u a l s and that they were strong a s a c o l l e c t i v i t y , and th e re fo re not to be t r i f l e d w ith .

Riders a l s o a f f e c t e d a s im i la r p a tt e rn of speech, a c ross between the a r g o t of the ghetto, the language of the j u v e n ile youth gangs and pool h u s t le r s , and that which had grown up amongst the G . I . ' s during the course o f the war. Prom the f i r s t s o u r c e , the world of the pool h u s t l e r , they developed the extensive use of nicknames (sometimes r e fe r r e d to a s ' l e g a l names') not, as Polsky p o in ts out I n 'H u s t le r s , Beats and O t h e r s ', p r im a r ily to confuse o u t s id e r s w h ils t engaged In crim in a l or q u a s i -c r lm ln a l a c t i v i t i e s , although as In h a b ita n ts of the ghetto they c e r t a i n l y p a r t ic i p a t e d In

such a c t i v i t i e s on a r e g u l a r b a s i s , but more p a r t i c u l a r l y because I t engendered f e e l i n g s of I n t e r n a l s o l i d a r i t y , of

'o n e n e s s ' amongst the group. As with poolroom h u s t l e r s , many

acqu ired t h e i r nicknames In ad o lesce n ce, during t h e i r terms of 'a p p r e n t i c e s h ip ' with youth gangs, o r In the s e r v ic e s , but the m ajority were given t h e i r nicknames upon acceptance

to the group. Such nicknames were u s u a ll y a s s o c ia te d with

some p h y s ic a l a t t r i b u t e of the I n d i v i d u a l concerned 1 .e . S q u in t, Lanky, Gnome, Ape, Ginger, Limpy or L i t t l e Andy (a s opposed to another, t a l l e r Andy, who would n a t u r a l l y enough

come to acquire the nickname Big Andy). Others had nicknames

bestowed on them which Indicated p erceived c h a racter t r a i t s or p e rs o n a l p r e d i l e c t i o n s l . e . Crafty., Tramp, P i n b a l l , Loser, Mouldy Ray, Freewheeling Frank, Charger C harlie The Child

M o le s te r, Speed, A lk y , Animal or Crazy C h a r l i e . As Polsky

p o in ts out. In common with h u s t le r s , most outlaw b ik e r s :

"Never use t h e i r r e a l names (except o c c a s io n a lly with o u t s id e r s . . . ) , not because these need t o be hidden but simply

because they p r e f e r t o be nicknamed. Like many other a r g o t

terms, these nicknames e x i s t because . . . 'they lend a l i t t l e c o lo u r to the game'.

"This i s to say that the . . . nickname I s a 'm on ick er',

not an ' a l i a s ' . True enough, the monicker . . . may i n c i d e n t a l l y

a id him when he I s being sought by p o l i c e , f o r the l a t t e r may be seeking him only under h i s r e a l name whereas most of h is c o lle a g u e s and f r i e n d s have never heard that hame and know

him only by h is monicker . . . But . . . ( I n ) tr y in g to avoid

a r r e s t ( h e ) never depends on his monicker f o r t h i s purpose; on the c o n t ra r y , when on the lam* an(j faced with any s i t u a t i o n i n which he must give h is name - e . g . meeting new people, re n t in g a room, buying a plane t i c k e t - he n e ith e r uses h is r e a l name nor h is monicker but tem po rarily adopts yet another

8 name, a true a l i a s . "

Polsky goes on to sum up why I t i s that In h is opinion the poolroom h u s t le r s of h i s study adopted the extensive use o f nicknames with which to address each other w ith in the co n fin es o f that p a r t i c u l a r s u b c u ltu re . In my opinion, t h i s e x p la n a tio n can e q u a lly and quite J u s t i f i a b l y be a p p lie d to outlaw b i k e r s , a group which shares common o r i g i n s and a common s t r u c t u r a l s i t u a t i o n w ith in the q u a s l -c r im l n a l i n f r a ­

structure of the Inner c i t y gh e tto . He says:

"Although the c h ie f reason f o r . . . ( t h e ) use of monickers I s . . . the furtherance of ' e s p r i t de c o r p s ', a d d i t i o n a l f a c t o r s

b o l s t e r such use . Taken t o g e th e r , they probably account f o r

the extrem ely high percentage of h u s t le r s - old and young a l ik e

with monickers. ( a ) (They) are overwhelmingly from the low er

* on the run from the p olice

c l a s s , which makes more frequent use of nicknames I n adulthood

than other c l a s s e s . ( b ) ( T h e i r ) world overlaps other crim inal

c i r c l e s that have b ig h monicker r a t e s . . . ( c ) (They) are