LL-L "Lexicon" 2010.05.04 (03) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 04 May 2010 - Volume 03
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: Lexicon



A sample list of lexical items follows the article at the original site (
http://current.com/1vmvu4c).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA


Convicts Use Shakespearean Dialect
 to Smuggle 'Cawbe', Fool 'Shades'

*
By James Tozer
Last updated at 5:34 PM on 8th June*


You might think that prison officers would be delighted that their inmates
were becoming well-versed in Elizabethan dialect.

But far from any self-improving study of the works of Shakespeare, criminals
are instead becoming fluent in thieves' cant, a dialect used by 16th-century
rogues to keep their plans secret.

Nearly 500 years later, their modern-day counterparts have adopted the slang
and updated it to help them smuggle drugs and other contraband into prisons.


The practice was uncovered at Buckley Hall Prison in Rochdale, when staff
noticed that the same phrases were being used in monitored phone calls and
letters between inmates and loved ones.

The dialect, thought to originate from medieval gipsies, was used by all
manner of villains in Shakespeare's England, becoming known as thieves' cant
or rogues' cant.

But it was thought to have become obsolete until its unexpected revival,
believed to have been led by criminal members of the travelling community.

The Ministry of Justice is so worried about the use of the code that it has
issued a security alert to governors at jails in England and Wales.

Examples of the new thieves' cant include 'chat' or 'onick' meaning heroin;
'cawbe', meaning crack cocaine; and 'inick', for phone or mobile phone SIM
card.

Inmates also use normal English in code - 'Bring the children' means to
bring drugs, while the phrase 'Lots of hair on the children' means 'bring
lots of drugs'.

An insider at the 381-prisoner, category C establishment revealed: 'This is
the most ingenious use of a secret code we have ever come across.

'Elizabethan cant was only used by a tiny number of people and it is quite
amazing that is has been resurrected in order to buy drugs. Some inmates
will try anything to get contraband into jail.'

***

Mail Online: http://current.com/1vmvu4c



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