So the other day I was talking to a friend and I made a comment about somebody that we knew from school. In the conversation, I said something to the effect, " Yea, John was a real strapper back in the day." My friend looked at me puzzled and asked, "what is a strapper?" I laughed and explained to him that a strapper is considered someone that you think is a moron, loser, someone you don't have respect for.

His question got me thinking about how the term "strapper" came about. Anyone know the origins of it? Is it considered Philly slang?

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Now what are we going to do about taking Winthorpe back and returning Valentine to the ghetto?

Back in the mid-80's we would occasionally refer to someone as a "strap." Haven't heard or used it much since.

I'm thinking it's local. I assumed it was short for strappin' young man...as in attractive and athletic.

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http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/be30300653

I don't think it means that. I just found definition from Urban Dictionary. Not like I am going to run with their definition

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=strapper

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Now what are we going to do about taking Winthorpe back and returning Valentine to the ghetto?

I always thought it was a local thing.

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“The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath.” - W. C. Fields

I heard it 1st in SPhilly. A few SPhilly native friends use the term often.

Yeah - I've never heard the South Philly version. Have always thought "strapping young man". So I'm familiar with "strapping", not "strap" in that sense.

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Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us. -- T. L. Holdcroft

Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.-- S. R. Barr

Go ahead and run with it, their definition is correct. The term "strapper" def has a negative meaning locally.

The first time I heard the term was about 20 years ago. My step dad (from S.Philly) called a guy who cut him off in traffic a strapper. It has a bad connotation. It's a cleaned up version of an @sshole.
I've never heard of it outside of Philly and I"ve lived a few other States.

I haven't heard it in years, but thought it was a shortened from jockstrap - "he's a strap".