They Don't Speak Our Language; Amazon follies (continued)

[Al Futrell]

The specific argot that Dennis is referring to can be found in
"The Lingo of the Jug-Heavy," Writer's Digest, Oct. 1931.  This piece
is reprinted in Language of the Underworld, Chapter 4.

Also, a minor correction.  Maurer actually didn't "win" the case.  This is
not my interpretation; rather, it is what he told me to tell people. The
case was settled out of court, but Dennis is no doubt on target when he
says there was a large settlement.  Perhaps my best evidence for this is that
when
Doubleday contacted me in 1998 about reprinting The Big Con (which they did) I
contacted one of the attorneys who handled the case and asked him to
take care of the legal negotiations.  He said he would be glad to do
it and wouldn't charge a dime!

"Dennis R. Preston" wrote:
>
> Mike,
>
> They ripped my old Professor off for "The Sting," but he won quite a
> lucrative case against them. As I recall the settlement amount was never
> revealed. I agree that his work on "seamy-side" US English is much
> under-cited. His work was not only authentically collected but often
> presentated in an ethnographically detailed way. Hadn't been for him and
> Fred Cassidy, I'd still be down in the coal mines.
>
> dInIs