Monthly Archive for November, 2009

In 18th-century England, it became a tradition for children to display a grotesque effigy of Fawkes, termed a “guy”, as part of the Bonfire Night celebration. As part of the tradition, they would often stand on streetcorners begging for “a penny for the guy”. The “guy” would be burned on a bonfire at the end of the evening. As a consequence, “guy” came to mean a man of odd appearance. Subsequently, in American English, “guy” lost any pejorative connotation, becoming a simple reference for any man.

- From Wikipedia