# What Was a 'Georgy Girl'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309 "2003-01-02T23:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/1 "2003-01-02T23:33:14Z")
I recently bought a CD that features the song “Georgy Girl” by the Seekers. The song came out in the mid 1960s and it has a nice beat to it, I think. There is just something that has perplexed me for the longest time now. What is a _georgy girl_? Yes I know Lynn Redgrave played one in a movie or something. But what does the word mean–_“georgy”_? Where is it derived from? And most importantly, who is this “George” person? Is he still alive? Just wondering… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/2 "2003-01-02T23:45:23Z")
The movie, _Georgy girl_ was about “A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father’s middle-aged employer while striving to capture some of the glamourous life of her swinging London roommate.” Source: [http://us.imdb.com/Plot?0060453](http://us.imdb.com/Plot?0060453) Lyn Redgrave played the character “Georgy.” The lyrics to _Georgy girl_ as sung by The Seekers, “Hey there, Georgy girl Swingin’ down the street so fancy-free Nobody you meet could ever see The loneliness there inside you Hey there, Georgy girl Why do all the boys just pass you by? Could it be you just don’t try Or is it the clothes you wear?” go with the movie. ---
**Author:** ![ICP9991](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@ICP9991](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ICP9991)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/3 "2003-01-03T00:08:08Z")
Never seen the movie or heard the song, but: a Geordie is someone from Newcastle (a city in north east England) I know, because I live near there and have the accent:) they are called Geordies because during the 1800s (i think) a new kind of oil lamp was introduces to the coal mining industry, called the davey saftey lamp, but they were…crap, and the people from Newcastle opted to keep the old Geordie lamp. They stereotypically drink alot and walk around in the freezing cold with no coats on…and say ‘howay,’ and ‘fishie on a dishie’ alot 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/4 "2003-01-03T00:13:54Z")
I had always assumed, quite simply, that the name of the girl in the movie was Georgy. Simple as that. There is no sub category of girls known as Georgy girls. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/5 "2003-01-03T00:31:32Z")
Jim boy :), you gotta think of it as “Hey there Georgy, girl.” Georgy was her name, probably short for Georgette. “Georgy girl” is not a discrete phrase, but a proper name followed by a label. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/6 "2003-01-03T01:36:42Z")
Gary T. is precisely right. “Georgy” was the name of Lynn Redgrave’s character. I believe her correct full name is given in the film, though I don’t recall if it was Georgette, or Georgia, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/7 "2003-01-03T02:06:09Z")
Yep, it’s kind of like Danny Boy. Haj ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/8 "2003-01-03T04:32:47Z")
By way of comparison- when you hear a 60s British song or movie refer to a “Teddy Boy,” that wasn’t the name of an individual. “Teddy Boy” was a generic name for an urban tough guy/street fighter in Northern England in the 60s. But, as others have noted, “Georgy Girl” was an individual, not a symbol of a type. ---
**Author:** ![Conveidt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5a626/32.png) [@Conveidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conveidt)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/9 "2015-03-09T18:58:31Z")
> [@slipster](#): > > Gary T. is precisely right. > > “Georgy” was the name of Lynn Redgrave’s character. I believe her correct full name is given in the film, though I don’t recall if it was Georgette, or Georgia, or whatever. In the last line of the movie, James Mason’s character calls her “Georgina”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/10 "2015-03-09T19:14:30Z")
Since this is about a movie and a song, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/11 "2015-03-09T19:15:37Z")
> [@Conveidt](#): > > In the last line of the movie, James Mason’s character calls her “Georgina”. [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Girl) gives her full name as Georgina Parkin. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/12 "2015-03-09T19:46:22Z")
That’s what happens when you name your kids after royalty – you end up with a bunch of girls named after some variant of “George”. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/13 "2015-03-09T19:57:07Z")
No one asked but I hope this helps anyway. Stainsby Girls by Chris Rea is a song about girls from Stainsby, Middlesborough, England which not coincidentally is where Chris Rea grew up. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/14 "2015-03-09T19:58:15Z")
I think it can be derived from girls with the name Georgette or Georgina or any of those kinds of names. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/15 "2015-03-09T20:03:36Z")
Meanwhile Hersham Boys by British punk band Sham 69 refers to boys from Hersham, Surrey which is South of London and not coincidentally where the band formed. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/16 "2015-03-09T20:44:19Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > The movie, _Georgy girl_ was about > > “A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father’s middle-aged employer while striving to capture some of the glamourous life of her swinging London roommate.” Interesting how times have changed. Now we’d all recognize this as sexual harassment by an old goat – with the added implied threat that her father will be fired if she doesn’t submit. Clearly a legal matter today. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/17 "2015-03-09T20:52:57Z")
I admit, the thought process of why people like the poster Conveidt would stumble upon this thread (I guess via a Google search or the like), sign up, and revive it after over 11 years? I’d call that dedication! (Also, was there a Café Society forum in 2003? I don’t recall). TCM shows the film ‘Georgy Girl’ every so often, but since it doesn’t seem to be a movie I’d be particularly interested in, I pass. However, I do recall way back in the late 1960s my mom liked the song and would play an LP with it every so often…thus as a little kid the song was burned into my young developing memory, where it resides in a fashion at this late date. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/18 "2015-03-09T20:54:09Z")
> [@ICP9991](#): > > **Never** seen the movie or **heard the song** , but: a Geordie is someone from Newcastle (a city in north east England) I know, because I live near there and have the accent. Just to be clear: You’re talking about Newcastle, England on \*this \*planet in \*this \*dimension? :dubious: :eek: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/19 "2015-03-09T20:56:39Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > I do recall way back in the late 1960s my mom liked the song and would play an LP with it every so often…thus as a little kid the song was burned into my young developing memory, where it resides in a fashion at this late date. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wsIbfYEizLk/maxresdefault.jpg "The Seekers - Georgy Girl (1967 - Stereo)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsIbfYEizLk) ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309/20 "2015-03-09T21:13:01Z")
> [@slipster](#): > > Gary T. is precisely right. > > “Georgy” was the name of Lynn Redgrave’s character. I believe her correct full name is given in the film, though I don’t recall if it was Georgette, or Georgia, or whatever. Georgina, and IIRC, her father called her “Georgie Girl” several times in the film. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-georgy-girl/146309.md?page=2)