The Washington herald., 1918-12-03

Special Correspondent Of The Washington Herald.
! New York, Dec. Soap Box
+ Hardy. an international crook and
famous celebrity on both sides of the
Atlantic, has given to the world a
/ Thieves Dictionary which is a COM
J pilation of underworld slang by one
who speaks IT. Soap Box" finished
his work in Sing Sing and had the
privilege of calling on many other
criminals to secure every word OBJ
I tainable used in the argot of all the
various grades Of crookdom.
1t develops that the language used
/ by criminals is by no means uniform.
/ Every class has its own cant. The
/ pickpocket uses one term, the sneak
another. the gun a third, the boxman
| fourth. and so on. The book was
! difficult to compile, for criminal slang
is devised for the purpose of secret
\ conversation and communication.
! The words invented and employed
| by criminals have a color and apt
ness which frequently recommend
I them to general use, and in this way
much Of the argot of thieves and
toughs has come into the speech of
the street and even of the drawing
! room.
I Here are. a few of the less gener-
! ally known words:
( Ban, verb: to cheat. Becker. verb;
| to electrocute in the chair at Sing
Sing. Bake. verb; to put to death In
| the electric chair. Beedlum. noun, a
! young girl.
Dietrich, noun; skeleton key.
\ Dimber. adjective; fine, dapper
Dooley. noun; nitroglycerine. Clip.
| verb; to deal in horses or autos.
To-
! through gan or ganuff, Jewish.)
| Heiker. noun; a German. Kidney.
noun; a waiter. Krupp, noun, a large
revolver. Lab. noun; kiss. Lap.
verb; to cringe. to curry favor. Lemon.
noun; a confidence man.
Muslin. noun; a young girl. Nakodo.
noun: a go-between. Mark, verb; to
watch closely. Nibski, noun; fresh
or windy Jew. Nut. noun; safe
easy to crack. Nyppers. noun; pick
| pockets.
Oracel noun; manicure girl.
Palatch. noun: a hangman. Pampa,
noun: a hangman. Paperhanger.
| noun; a forger. Psppy, adjective; old,
feeble. Pat, noun: flattery. Pelican.
noun; a magistrate or a loose woman.
| Puff. verb; TO blow a safe Ran
| tan, adjective; drunk. Red Mike,
noun: canned corned beef. WAIKIKI,
noun; money.
Three hundred dollars for a SNUFF
/ box! That is the price paid at a
! recent New York art sale. There
I are very few snuff takers left too.
! With this as an example there is
hope for those improvident spenders
/ who have decorated their sideboard
! tops with expensive cocktail mixers.
! In future art object sales we may
read such an item as zone solid
/ silver vessel, supposed to have been
fancy beverage mixer. $500: pur-
| chaser. Mr.. o. Howe Wystfull."
| 1t is difficult to recognize the East
/ Side these days. The red flag waves
no more, and as for the soap boxes,
scarcely one is polluted by the hu-
man foot.
! All is due to the suffragists-or
| rather to the women: the wives,
mothers. sisters and friends of the
| boys in France. At the recent cleo
tion they proved that pacifism and
! suffrage do not run together.
! The vote of the women completely
swept the Socialists from office. The
| East Slde Is TED up on autocrecy be-
| fore they came to the Melting Pot
The meaning of democracy gets its
/ greatest impetus in the schools.
! A school teacher is an Idol and a
god to the East Side-whatever she
! says goes. and her words are COM
! mented on evenings in every crowded
| tenement room by mother and father,
as well as all the children.
| And in the morning mothers lean
! from their windows to talk interna-
\ tional ethics across narrow ccurts
where they hang the clothes. Once
you get the East Side thinking there
Is no limit to its power