Citations:
1989 John Snell Portland Oregonian (Nov. 12) “Year later, Skinhead still clings to beliefs” p. 1: “He hit the ground immediately. After that, we had a little boot party.” A boot party is the term Skinheads use to describe an attack in which a victim is encircled and kicked repeatedly. [1991 [Keebler] Usenet: alt.skinheads (Sept. 25) “Chicago Rally”: The latest issue of Boot Party Skinzine is out.] 1995 Street Gangs (Jan.) p. 40: Casual talk of a “boot party” refers to the fact that the members have attacked someone and used their boots in the assault.…As a Skinhead’s primary weapon, the boots play an important role in this as well as most other assaults. 2005 John Bowers Salt Lake City Weekly (Utah) (Apr. 28) “Cell Survivor”: Inmates throughout the BOP suffer boot-parties on an alarming scale because of this “trick bag.”…A few lumps on my head and a paint job on my eyes is far better than what could happen if I didn’t immediately fight—a boot party from my own people.
Reader comments:
Do you see any evidence at all that this term is used in Austrailia to describe what we in the U.S. would call a “tailgate party”? I see that a company down there has trademarked “boot party” for their party service: http://www.corporatehost. co.nz/bootparty.php
I wonder if they know about this definition? :)
Sorry, I see that should be “New Zealand”, not “Australia”.
If it is, it’s not recorded in the Dictionary of New Zealand English, nor in the Macquarie Dictionary or the Australian Oxford Dictionary, for that matter. In the DNZE there are, however, forms of “boot” in connection with attacks, such as “to put the put in” or “to sink the boot in.”