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Jargon of the Underworld

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Doing a little background research for my book yesterday, I stumbled across an issue of Dialect Notes from 1927, a publication of the American Dialect Society. In an article entitled “Dialect of the Underworld,” I discovered all sorts of fun stuff. Some examples (and you can explore for yourself here):

“fall togs. n. Good clothes to be worn when on trial so as to create a favorable impression.”

“cross. v. To offer an acceptable bribe.”

“coke party. n. A carousal, usually made up of thieves and prostitutes, where whisky and cocaine are the stimulants.”

“cattle. n. Downtrodden working men who are having their life’s blood sucked out by capitalists.”

“Cain and Abel. n. A chair and a table”

“buttermilk route. n.” The environs of Pittsburgh.”

“white coffee. n. Bootleg whisky”

“virgin. n. A prostitute who pretends she’s never been deflowered.”

“violent. n. A syphilitic far gone.”

“suck the bamboo. v. To smoke opium.”

“soul aviator. n. A preacher.”

“snots. n. Oysters.”

“slugging committee. n. An I.W.W. membership committee.”

“Sears Roebuck detective. n. A rural Sherlock Holmes”

“punk and gut. n. Bread and bologna.”

In other words, short of finding new historical cat boxing videos, this is about as good as it gets for me.

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