to pin

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:18 AM -0300 8/25/08, David A. Daniel wrote:
>Also, while I'm at it, I recently came across this previously unknown (to
>me) meaning of "to pin". I have already checked with Mr. Sheidlower and it
>apparently was unknown to the OED as well.
>
>Author: Susanna Moore. Book: The Big Girls (takes place in a women's
>prison). Vintage Books, trade paper, 224 pgs, 2008.
>
>>>From page 66:
>"Last night, Wanda asked me to pin for her and Jo, and I was proud to do it.
>...All I had to do last night was keep Officer Molina busy for as long as I
>could..."
>
>>>From context, it seemed to mean "to run interference for" or "to help out by
>creating a distraction" or "to take attention away from".
>
>I wrote to Susanna Moore and asked her about the meaning and if perhaps it
>was prison jargon. She replied: "That is exactly what to pin means. To
>cover, or distract. A prison word, and probably a street word, too."
>
>She further wrote: "I don't know if you have read my earlier book, In the
>Cut, but the heroine, Franny, is a linguist and teacher, compiling a book of
>street slang. It might be of interest to you." Am passing this latter along
>in case it is of interest to anyone out there.
>
Yes, her protagonist was indeed compiling a lexicon in that novel,
which is a bit hard to take (the novel, not the glossary).  She (the
protagonist, not the author) should have stuck to linguistics.

LH

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