Criminal Slang
| Date | 01 January 1943 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4301600116 |
| Published date | 01 January 1943 |
| Author | Alexander Black |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CRIMINAL
SLANG
65
conditions of heavy and important traffic warrant this course.
This
is
arranged by running all the control lines between the switchboard and
the wireless equipment via a special control panel in the
War
Room.
For
maintenance work and routine testing local control of all circuits is
provided at the transmitter proper.
In
conclusion, it must be said
that
there is much to do yet and a few
years will, no doubt, see very great changes and improvements in
police communications. Nevertheless, the system as described works
and works well, and it is hoped
that
this short article may in some
small way give inspiration for future developments to others similarly
placed. Thanks are due to the Engineering Department of the Post
Office, who have always been most helpful and willing to collaborate in
making the scheme a success.
City of Aberdeen Police
EDWARD
G.
INGRAM
Criminal
Slang
By
DETECTIVE-SERGEANT
ALEXANDER
BLACK
Special Branch,
Metropolitan
Police
THE following is a collection of-slang words, phrases and expressions
in current use in police and criminal circles in London.
The
subject
is a fascinating one and apparently inexhaustible, so I hasten to state
that the collection is not claimed to be complete.
In
fact, I should be
glad to hear from anyone who could add to the list or who could give
alternative meanings or different shades of meaning for any of the
words listed.
In the first flush of enthusiasm for the collection, I hoped to trace
the origin of the words,
but
I now realise that this would be a tre-
mendous,
if
not impossible, undertaking, and would require years of
research, with doubtful hopes of success.
The
origin of some of the words is obvious, of course; some, I
believe, are derived from the Romany; others
just
appear to have
"growed." A few are extremely old and it was rather surprising to
discover that "lag," "
lagging"
and " lagged " are derived from the
Norse "LAGDA," meaning
"laid"
(either in durance or in bed).
Another ancient Norse word is "
gang";
you can read in the Norse
"
EDDA
" (a collection of ancient mythological and heroic songs) that
such-and-such a king invaded some country
.at
the head of a "
gang"
of heroes, and there is obviously a connection between the Norse
"gang," the Anglo-Saxon" gangan
"-to
go, the
Scots"
to gang
"-
to go,
and
the
German"
gegangen
"-gone.
F
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