What's new
By:
FORUMS - COASTERFORCE

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

The term "funfair"

vgmaster9

vgmaster9

Roller Poster
Where does the term "funfair" come from? Is it supposed to be a bigger version of a carnival with more rides and stuff? Also, how does it differ from the term "fairground" or "county/state fair"? There are many different ways to name these events that involve portable rides and stalls.
 
A funfair suggests a travelling fair or carnival, while fairground sounds like a permanent amusement type park - similar to the small collection of rides and attractions you might find at the end of a pier.
 
FaceYourNemesis said:
A funfair suggests a travelling fair or carnival, while fairground sounds like a permanent amusement type park - similar to the small collection of rides and attractions you might find at the end of a pier.
Click to expand...
This, although people do use the terms interchangeably.

Btw fair comes from the Latin 'feria', which means 'holiday'
 
Seems to me that America lacks actual funfairs and all we pretty much have are county and state fairs which are mainly used for livestock. I went to a fair at the Meadowlands yesterday and it's pretty much like a temporary amusement park, which is as close as it gets to Europe's funfairs. If I could, I'd make a funfair similar to the Dusseldorf Fair.
 
^Not true. The San Diego County Fair is what you would think a fair would be: lots of rides, lots of attractions, lots of animals, animal races, extreme sports demonstrations, greasy fried food on EVERY corner (fried butter anyone? :? ), vehicle manufacturer booths, LOTS of booths selling misleadingly useful crap (some it of it useful though), some vendor displays, a giant hall of student creations such as art, robots, electric cars, race vehicles, random collections of stuff such as matchbox cars, a hall full of classic vehicles, and my personal favorite, a 100% disassembled nissan Sentra, and of course carnies that don't care and send you to the most expensive parkinglot out of the entire area. Oh yeah, don't forget the 6 beer gardens and 40 different beers on tap, two of them featuring full time concert stages with acts such as Grand Funk Railroad, or Joan Jett.

I guess that is a fun fair. I mean there's close to 100 rides/attractions there each year, and RCS Fair is always adding more rides to their collection, and bringing them out to the fair for everyone to enjoy. I've added 6 coaster creds this last year :P
 
Still, I'm sure it doesn't have many rides seen in most German funfairs. I've yet to see a fair here have a Sea Storm or a Bayern Kurve (unless there are still Chance Olympic Bobs rides still out there).

EDIT: Also, like any fair here, it has competitive exhibits. The Meadowlands fair isn't like that, not like our official state fair. I'm also sure that Germany's fairs don't have those things either. "Funfairs" don't really have contests or competitive exhibits, but "state" and "county" fairs do.
 
^I think it has something to do with safety standards here, or some crap like that, I was reading...

Nontheless, there's still heaps of rides at the SDCF, except it sucks because 1/4 of them are the interesting ones and they require 2 riders, and your brother is too pansi to ride </3
 
For me, a fair is a gathering to celebrate a kind of particular "event" or "product type". You may get amusement rides and attractions as part of the fair, but it's predominately about the county/tractors/rose queen/whatever. Stafford has a county "show" rather than a county fair; I don't know if this is common?

A fun fair is solely about the rides/stupid fired food/hook-a-duck. Though some fairs like the Nottingham Goose Fair have evolved into a fun fair from a traditional fair about selling geese (or whatever).

A fairground and an "Amusement Park" are pretty close to me. Generally if it's mostly temporary rides in a fixed location, then it's a fairground. If it's mostly permanent rides but they're kind of dumped in with little to no theming - it's an amusement park. Hence Coney Island is a fairground, and Kennywood is an Amusement Park (or Coney Island was when I visited). Though that's just for me, I'll generally just use the term "fair" for pretty much everything anyway :lol:
 
Stafford has a county "show" rather than a county fair; I don't know if this is common?
Click to expand...
In Australia, "show" is easily the most widely used term for the yearly event held in many towns and cities with rides, farm animals etc.
 
Yeah, I'd expect a UK' show' to include animals. Similar to the US county/state fairs I guess.
That, and a' largest vegetable' or 'best cake' competition

On a similar note, I went to a steam train and folk music festival this weekend whilst on the Isle of Wight. It included the most random thing ever: Goth morris dancers!!! They were amazing - all the women had on black leather corsets and bells, and the guys had DMs, punk hairdos and pheasant feathers! It was all a bit bizarre. I'll try and find a photo tonight!
 
Excellent! I was once part of an "Oompah Goth" outfit. Imagine a German brass band playing Sisters of Mercy and the Cure and you're getting close :lol: It didn't last very long, goths are exceedingly lazy!
 
furie said:
For me, a fair is a gathering to celebrate a kind of particular "event" or "product type". You may get amusement rides and attractions as part of the fair, but it's predominately about the county/tractors/rose queen/whatever. Stafford has a county "show" rather than a county fair; I don't know if this is common?

A fun fair is solely about the rides/stupid fired food/hook-a-duck. Though some fairs like the Nottingham Goose Fair have evolved into a fun fair from a traditional fair about selling geese (or whatever).

A fairground and an "Amusement Park" are pretty close to me. Generally if it's mostly temporary rides in a fixed location, then it's a fairground. If it's mostly permanent rides but they're kind of dumped in with little to no theming - it's an amusement park. Hence Coney Island is a fairground, and Kennywood is an Amusement Park (or Coney Island was when I visited). Though that's just for me, I'll generally just use the term "fair" for pretty much everything anyway :lol:
Click to expand...

That's what I mean. The fair in Meadowlands is more of a "funfair", while our official state fair is a true "fair". I would love to see a real funfair in America that would be a hotspot for enthusiasts. Besides, isn't a fairground the area where the fair takes place?
 
It may be in the US, but over here it isn't. Stafford has a "show ground" and several "commons". The show ground is used for all kinds of, well, shows. The fun fairs tend to go on the common land.

I think our show ground would maybe be called a fairground in the US. Here, we would use it as I described above, with a permanent funfair on the ground all year round.
 
I think a "permanent fair" would be a better term than fairground, but countries have their own terms i guess. Anyone know any other American funfairs that are not considered county or state fairs?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top