Meanings of the 2015 street names

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The map was published today: http://burningman.org/event/black-rock- ... -city-map/

Here are things I could find related to the meanings of each of the street names:

Esplanade: an open, level space serving for public walks or drives.

Arcade: an arched or covered passageway, usually with shops on each side.

Ballyhoo: a clamorous and vigorous attempt to win customers or advance any cause; blatant advertising or publicity.

Carny: a person employed by a carnival.

Donniker: (often spelled "donnicker") a toilet or cesspool. (Source: http://answers.google.com/answers/threa ... 83852.html)

Ersatz: an artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute.

Freak Show: a display of people or animals with unusual or grotesque physical features.

Geek: a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.

Hanky Pank: a carnival game where every player wins a prize every time, but the value of the prize is less than the cost to play the game. (Source: http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/car_d-i.htm)

Illusion: something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.

Jolly: in horse race betting, the favorite. Also: drunk. (Source: The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by Eric Partridge, Taylor & Francis, 2006.)

Kook: an eccentric, strange or crazy person; a weirdo.

Laffing Sal: one of several automated characters that were built primarily to attract carnival and amusement park patrons to funhouses and dark rides throughout the United States. Its movements were accompanied by a raucous laugh that sometimes frightened small children and annoyed adults. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffing_Sal)

[Jovankat]

Ballyhoo is also the term for swinging a followspot around in a figure eight, something that often happens at the beginning of a performance or in the lead up to a "volunteer" being selected from the audience. It's kind of the lighting equivalent to a drumroll.

Source: I spend three months a year working 8 shows a week doing exactly this for a circusy cabaret show, it's how I pay for my burn actually.

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Awesome.

I think a lot of these may have "hidden" carny meanings -- I searched for a while for the ones like "kook" and "illusion" that seemed a bit too ordinary.

Illusion seems to have a specific use in carnival terms related to certain types of acts like flea circuses and headless men. At http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/car_d-i.htm they refer to mechanical illusions, optical illusions, etc.

[Jovankat]

Illusion is often used in place of "magic trick" and to refer to the elements of stage craft that trick or confound the audience. I did a subject at college called Illusions and we learnt about things like wall of light puppet work, shadow play, false perspective and the larger stage scenery version of sleight of hand.

[Jovankat]

Oh and esplanade is pretty commonly used as the street name for a frontage street, like the street that runs along a beach, I thought that was pretty common knowledge?

And here's some more info on donniker

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Oh and esplanade is pretty commonly used as the street name for a frontage street, like the street that runs along a beach, I thought that was pretty common knowledge?

Yeah, you're right, it's pretty common knowledge but I figured if I was including the definition for other common words like arcade and kook, I may as well include esplanade.

And here's some more info on donniker

That's fascinating. I'm not sure I buy the "donner und blizten" theory, but it's more credible than the "down knickers" explanation offered elsewhere. Encarta suggests an association with "dung" but I think that's dubious too.