The Press., 1897-08-19
LANGUAGE OF CRIME.
THE ARGOT OF PARIS AND THE "PAT-
 TER" OF LONDON.
Thieves Have Special Words to Express Stealing of Every Kind = Material Changes Take Place Every Two OF Three Years

Thieves Have Special Words to Express
 Stealing of Every Kind = Material
 Changes Take Place Every Two OF
 Three Years.
 The language of criminals-the argOt of Paris the batter of London-has been carefully investigated by numer- ous writers, with very variant results.
 It's origin is difficult to explain. Criminals, say many authors, have found it necessary to adopt technical language for their own protection, that they may be able to converse ill public without being understood. "They have been forced to do this and have made language as sinister and as vile as them selves" 7" This theory cannot be admit ted Certainly the argot is sinister and vile and thoroughly representative of the class that uses it, but further than this we cannot go.
 The theory that the use of this dialect is of any assistance to tho criminal is inadmissible. Most policemen and all prison officers know this slang, some times better than the thieves. To speak it in the hearing of a detective is to in- vite arrest; to speak it ill the presence of the general public would arouse sus- picion and attract attention-twO things which are especially to be avoided. Why, then, docs it exist? Dr. Laurent of the Sante prison ill Paris has given all explanation which has at least noth- ing to contradict it: The persons en gagged ill every trade form a species of dialect or technical phraseology which <1 selves. Criminals, who practice trade as old as any, have gradually acquired language more adapted to their wants, more i'll keeping with their ideas and thoughts. Miserable. hcartless, engaged ill a perpetual struggle against moral ity, law and dcccncy, they have &C., Quired language of debaSed words and cynical metaphors, language of abbre- viated expressions and obscene syno- nyms
 This dialect has mutilated the mother tongue. It has also borrowed hberally flom other languages, but without meth od or etymology. Criminals are not grammarians Neither are they lin- guists, and at first sight it would seem strange that they should import words lIOul OUleT SOuIlIT1GS WS WILL uIUs however, that i'll any prison the percent age of inmates of foreign birth will be large. In America it is about 5 per cent. A foreign expression which seems apt CT an improvement OH the ono in present use is rapidly diffuscd through the prison. In eases where it is especial ly descriptive it may become permanent, but its life is usually short. The argot of tho crime class changes materially every two or three years It is ephem- eral, as shifting as its users Victor Hugo cXnggcrates only slightly when he says, "rhe argot changes more in ten years than the language does i'll ten ecu turies. Thus ill the last three years there have Lc>n three different terms for watch-''supcr, 'thimble" and yellow and whitc''-each of which was i'll its turn the only one used.
 | Every writer on the subject has mo- ticed that the argot is rich in expres- sions to denote certain common actions This is pecliarity shared by all primi- tive languages, tho only difference being in the selection of the common aots Thus in Sanskrit there are nearly 100 roots which express the idea of killing or wounding. without counting second ary derivationa Some of these roots are embodied in our language today. In the dialect of the thieves there are nearly 100 expressions to signify theft It was necessary for the pickpocket to describe | the various pockets ill mans clothing and ill woman's dress The average man does not often need to specify particular pocket. When he does, be | lays his hand on it to assist the poverty of his language. The thief has sepa- rate name for each separate pocket.
 But i'll spite of this richness in syn onyms, which is in itself a marked sign of degeneracy. for the tendency of language is to eliminate its synonyms, | giving to each different shade of meaning, the argot is q poor language. It has not single expression for ab- stract emotion. To attempt to render a 1 philosophic thought, moral emotion, 8 | synthetic or aesthetic idea into the dia- lect of the thief would be like attempt ing to translate electricity" or "steam engine into Latin It is impossible be- cause the words do not exist. They are not needed. The criminal has no more conception of abstract emotion than a blind man has of color.
 | A fact which does not seem to ally the argot to primitive language is it's ability to form additional words from it's own resources, a power of self de- velopment which we find in the old Anglo-Saxon, and especially in the Ger man of today. This trait is the more striking as it seems ill direct contradic- tion to the impotence of the English language ill this respect The English has little formative power. It relies on the Greek and Latin languages for the extension of its vocabulary.-A. T. B. Crofton in Popular Science Monthly.