[clone.]

LIKE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS FROM THEIR BACKYARD BOMB.
the PURE SUNSHINE encyclopedia

BARTENDERS.

It's 1923. Prohibition has stormed in like a shower of bullets in your throat. It wasn't odd to see a speakeasy in every corner of the underground. This was the business of choice, and bartenders got off pretty easy serving homemade gin to thirsty night owls. While they loved what they did and loved what they served, bartenders weren't your friendliest neighbours around. They were nearly as tough as the gangsters and mobsters who had a hand in illegal liquor. Bartenders frequently kept firearms at their sides to control their rowdy and belligerent patrons, as well as keeping their turf safe from robbers since bartending was a pretty smooth job. In other words, you got to have some backbone if you think you can handle a little gin and some competition.

DEALERS.

Dark. Ruthless. Hustlers. Drug dealers looked out only for themselves and their profit. Selling everything from marijuana to bootleg liquor, dealers know what the populace wanted. And better yet, they know how to serve what the populace need. Dealers know all the tricks and secrets, as well as the twist and curves of the dark, rat-infested alleys they inhabit. They've grown to infest the streets like the gangsters they work with. Their hands are immersed in the art of conning; so never trust a drug dealer. They know the few doors around your soul and how to rip it right out of your hands. It's like taking candy from a baby.

FLAPPERS.

Short skirts. Bobbed hair. The rebellious broad. Flappers were the women who hated to be socially correct and lived for everything that would make their mothers cry in shame. They listened and danced provocatively to jazz music and wore excessive makeup. They had their little, gloved hands in liquor and drugs, smoked like the big dogs, drove vehicles, and treated sex as if it were the sweetest candy in the market. In the 1920's, you were a dipshit to follow the rules. These girls knew how to do it.

GANGSTERS.

They are what the 1920's is about. America tolerated gangsters and the crimes they committed every waking moment. They had their hands in nearly every piece of crime that infested the Chicago Streets: bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, organized crime, and racketeering. These boys are the superheros of the streets and know their way around. A lot of the gangs are ethnically based and have their headquarters in 'turfs' located around the city. The Italians. The Irish. The Chinese. The Scottish. The Jews. The Poles. North Side Gang. They rule Chicago and it's underground. If you're smart, you might want to rethink where your loyalties lie.

LOCALS.

Blah. Blah. Blah. The normal Chicagoans. Their daily decisions are perhaps the most important ones they shall ever make. It's all about surviving the seconds without having a gun to your face and a knife in your throat. You can see the locals have morals. Some, maybe. You can say they are smart for not diving face first into the underbelly where all the big dogs play. It's a 'dog eat dog' world, and they like to play the little innocent puppies hanging out on the sidelines. Remember locals. Watch where you step, because if you make the wrong move, there may be no way to turn back.

MAFIAS.

Al Capone. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano. William 'Big Bill' Thompson. The Big Boys. The families. They run the place and the people, if you haven't noticed. They coexisted with the gangsters, and like the gangs and the dealers, the Mafia have ties to nearly everything that runs Chicago, including the bootlegging and the organized crime. Being in the mafia is some risky business, and you have to watch your back as if danger has itself strapped to it; murders aren't an unusual thing with the mafia. Chicago has a predominant Italian mafia infrastructure, but that doesn't mean there are other rival families: The Scottish, Chinese, The Irish, ect. The mafia follow three important codes of conduct:

1. A code of silence – Never to “rat out” any mafia member. Never to divulge any mafia secrets even if they were threatened by torture or death.

2. Complete obedience to the boss – Obey the boss’s orders, no matter what.

3. Assistance – To provide any necessary assistance to any other respected or befriended mafia faction.

Remember kids, family is important.

POLICE.

The Fuzz. They watch their city become infested with bodies and crime like a swarm of rabid bees. Every night brings a new adventure, and all the police know is to apprehend first and ask questions later. They've seen too much over the years, and times are too short to be the 'nice' cop that everyone wants. In Chicago, you have to be tough to gain respect, and the police show no mercy for the lawless inhabitants of the underground. Why should they? Because of the bastards that leave a dead body on the corner every night, the police are forced to face their nightmares for the rest of their lives. But remember, not everyone man who wears a shiny, silver badge follows a code of honour.

PROSTITUTES.

The Chicago sex trade. It's been going around since the mid 1800's, and it shows no signs of dying soon. The underground is full of brothels, saloons, nightclubs, cabarets and apartments that house Chicago's regular prostitutes.They find ways to avoid the police, relocating to communities on Chicago's South Side, or making arrangements with powerful syndicates to gain protection from the fuzz. The prostitutes are territorial and know the streets better than their own body, working it harder than any living inhabitant in Chicago. The prostitution rings are run by the mobs and the gangsters. It's a dirty job, but hell, what's a guy or gal to do these days?

all information copyright to google and the mind of clone.

[panduh cakes.]

the lingo.

A

Alderman: A man's pot belly.
All Wet: Describes an erroneous idea or individual.
Applesauce: an explative; same as horsefeathers
Ameche: Telephone
Ankle: (n) Woman OR (v) To walk

B

Babe: Woman
Baby: A person, can be said to either a man or a woman
Bangtails: Racehorses
Barber: Talk
Bee's Knees: An extraordinary person, thing, idea; the ultimate.
Berries: That which is attractive or pleasing; similar to bee's knees, As in "It's the berries."
Big Cheese: The most important or influential person; boss. Same as big shot.
Big house: Jail
Big one, The: Death
Big sleep, The: Death
Bindle of heroin: Little folded-up piece of paper (with heroin inside)
Bindle of the bundle (or "brindle") in which a hobo carries all his worldly possessions
Bindle punk, bindle stiff: Chronic wanderers; itinerant misfits, criminals, migratory harvest workers, and lumber jacks. Called so because they carried a "bindle." George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men are bindle stiffs.
Bing: Jailhouse talk for solitary confinement, hence "crazy"
Bird: Man
Bit: Prison sentence
Blarney: derogatory term for an Irish person
Blip off: To kill
Blind Date: going out with someone you do not know
Blow: Leave
Blow one down: Kill someone
Blower: Telephone
Bluenose: An excessively puritanical person, a prude, Creator of "the Blue Nozzle Curse."
Bo: Pal, buster, fellow, as in "Hey, bo"
Boiler: Car
Boob: Dumb guy
Boozehound: Drunkard
Bop: To kill
Box: A safe OR a bar
Box job: A safecracking
Brace (somebody): Grab, shake up
Bracelets: Handcuffs
Break it up: Stop that, quit the nonsense
Breeze: To leave, go; also breeze off: get lost
Broad: Woman
Broderick, The: A thorough beating
Bruno: Tough guy, enforcer
Bucket: Car
Bulge, as in "The kid had the bulge there": The advantage
Bulls: Plainclothes railroad cops; uniformed police; prison guards
Bum's rush, To get the: To be kicked out
Bump Off: To murder, To kill.
Buncoing some (people): Defrauding people
Bunk: "Take a bunk": leave, disappear
"That's the bunk": that's false, untrue
"to bunk": to sleep
Bunny, as in "Don't be a bunny": Don't be stupid
Burn powder: Fire a gun
Bus: Big car
Butter and egg man: The money man, the man with the bankroll, a yokel who comes to town to blow a big wad in nightclubs
Button: Face, nose, end of jaw
Button man: Professional killer
Buttons: Police
Butts: Cigarettes
Buy a drink: To pour a drink
Buzz, as in "I'm in the dump an hour and the house copper gives me the buzz": Looks me up, comes to my door
Buzzer: Policeman's badge

C

C: $100, a pair of Cs = $200
Cabbage: Money
Cake-Eater: An effete ladies' man, or someone who attends tea parties.
Call copper: Inform the police
Can: Jail OR Car
Can house: Bordello
Can-opener: Safecracker who opens cheap safes
Canary: Woman singer
Carry a Torch: Suffering from an unrequieted love.
Case dough: "Nest egg ... the theoretically untouchable reserve for emergencies" (Speaking)
Cat: Man
Cat's Meow: Something splendid or stylish; similar to bee's knees.
Cat's Pajamas: "I think yer the cat's pajamas": term of endearment translated in today's terms as "I think you are really really cool".
Century: $100
Cheaters: Sunglasses
Cheese it: Put things away, hide
Chew: Eat
Chicago lightning: gunfire
Chicago overcoat: Coffin
Chick: Woman
Chilled off: Killed
Chin: Conversation; chinning: talking
Chin music: Punch on the jaw
Chinese angle, as in "You're not trying to find a Chinese angle on it, are you?": A strange or unusual twist or aspect to something
Chinese squeeze: Grafting by skimming profits off the top
Chippy: Woman of easy virtue
Chisel: To swindle or cheat
Chiv, chive: Knife, "a stabbing or cutting weapon" (Speaking)
Chopper squad: Men with machine guns
Chump: person marked for a con or a gullible person.
Clammed: Close-mouthed (clammed up)
Clean sneak: An escape with no clues left behind
Clip joint: In some cases, a night-club where the prices are high and the patrons are fleeced (Partridge's), but in Pick-Up a casino where the tables are fixed
Clipped: Shot
Close your head: Shut up
Clout: Shoplifter
Clubhouse: Police station
Coffee-and-doughnut, as in "These coffee-and-doughnut guns are ...": Could come from "coffee and cakes," which refers to something cheap or of little value.
Colored: derogatory term for an African-American
Con: Confidence game, swindle
Conk: Head
Cool: To knock out
Corn: Bourbon ("corn liquor")
Crab: Figure out
Crate: Car
Creep joint: ?? Can mean a whorehouse where the girls are pickpockets, but that doesn't fit in Pick-Up
Croak: To kill
Croaker: Doctor
Crush: An infatuation.
Crushed out: Escaped (from jail)
Cush: Money (a cushion, something to fall back on)
Cut down: Killed

D

Daisy: None too masculine
Dame: Woman
Dance: To be hanged
Dangle: Leave, get lost
Darb: An excellent person or thing (as in "the Darb": a person with money who can be relied on to pay the check).
Dark meat: Black person
Daylight, as in "let the daylight in" or "fill him with daylight": Put a hole in, by shooting or stabbing
Deck, as in "deck of Luckies": Pack of cigarettes
Dego: derogatory term for an Italian
Derrick: Shoplifter
Diapers, as in "Pin your diapers on": Clothes, get dressed
Dib: Share (of the proceeds)
Dick: Detective (usually qualified with "private" if not a policeman)
Dinge: Black person
Dingus: Thing
Dip: Pickpocket
Dip the bill: Have a drink
Dish: Pretty woman
Dive: A low-down, cheap sort of place
Dizzy with a dame, To be: To be deeply in love with a woman
Do the dance: To be hanged
Dogs: feet.
Doll, dolly: Woman
Dope: Drugs, of any sort
Information
As a verb, as in "I had him doped as": to have figured for
A person marked for a con or a gullible person.
Dope fiend: Drug addict
Dope peddler: Drug dealer
Dormy: Dormant, quiet, as in "Why didn't you lie dormy in the place you climbed to?"
Dough: Money
Drift: Go, leave
Drill: Shoot
Drop a dime: Make a phone call, sometimes meaning to the police to inform on someone
Droppers: Hired killers
Drugstore Cowboy: a guy that hangs around on a street corner trying to pick up girls
Drum: Speakeasy
Dry-gulch: Knock out, hit on head after ambushing
Ducat
Ticket
For hobos, a union card or card asking for alms
Duck soup: Easy, a piece of cake
Dumb Dora: a stupid female.
Dummerer: Somebody who pretends to be (deaf and?) dumb in order to appear a more deserving beggar
Dump: Roadhouse, club; or, more generally, any place
Dust: Nothing, as in "Tinhorns are dust to me"
Leave, depart, as in "Let's dust"
A look, as in "Let's give it the dust"
Dust out: Leave, depart
Dutch: As in "in dutch": trouble
As in "A girl pulled the Dutch act": committed suicide
As in "They don't make me happy neither. I get a bump once'n a while. Mostly a Dutch.": ?? relates to the police (Art)

E

Eel juice: liquor
Egg: Man
Eggs in the coffee: Easy, a piece of cake, okay, all right
Elbow: A collar or an arrest. Someone being arrested will "have their elbows checked."
Electric cure: Electrocution
Elephant ears: Police

F

Fade: Go away, get lost
Fakeloo artist: Con man
Fall Guy: Victim of a frame.
Fella: a man
Fin: $5 bill
Finder: Finger man
Finger, Put the finger on: Identify
Flaming Youth: The male counterpart to a flapper.
Flapper: A stylish, brash young woman with short skirts and shorter hair.
Flat: Broke
Flat Tire: A dull-witted or disappointing date.
Flattie: Flatfoot, cop
Flimflam(m): Swindle
Flippers: Hands
Flivver: A Ford automobile
Flogger: Overcoat
Flop: Go to bed
Flophouse: "A cheap transient hotel where a lot of men sleep in large rooms" (Speaking)
Fog: To shoot
Frail: Woman
Frame: To give false evidence, to set up someone
Frau: Wife
Fry: To be electrocuted
From nothing, as in "I know from nothing": I don't know anything
Fuzz: police

G

Gal: Woman
Gams: Legs (especially a woman's)
Gashouse, as in "getting gashouse": Rough
Gasper: Cigarette
Gat: Gun
Gate, as in "Give her the gate": The door, as in leave
Gaycat: "A young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality"
Gee: Man
Geetus: Money
Get Sore (at someone): get mad
Getaway sticks: Legs (especially a woman's)
Giggle Water: Liquor
Gin mill: Bar
Gink: Man
Girlie: Woman
Give a/the third: Interrogate (third degree)
Glad rags: Fancy clothes
Glom: To steal OR To see, to take a look
Glaum: Steal
Go climb up your thumb: Go away, get lost
Go over the edge with the rams: To get far too drunk
Go to read and write: Rhyming slang for take flight
Gonif: Thief (Yiddish)
Goofy: Crazy
Goog: Black eye
Goon: Thug
Goose: Man
Gooseberry lay: Stealing clothes from a clothesline
Gowed-up: On dope, high
Grab (a little) air: Put your hands up
Graft: Con jobs
Greasers: Mexicans or Italians. OR A hoodlum, thief or punk.
Grift: Confidence game, swindle
Grifter: Con man
Grilled: Questioned
Guinea: derogatory term for an Italian
Gum: Opium
Gum-shoe: Detective; also gumshoeing = detective work
Gunsel: Gunman

H

Hack: Taxi

Half, A:50 cents
Hammer and saws: Police (rhyming slang for laws)
Hard: Tough
Harlem sunset: Some sort fatal injury caused by knife
Hash house: A cheap restaurant
Hatchetmen: Killers, gunmen
Have the bees: To be rich
Have the curse on someone: Wanting to see someone killed
Head doctors: Psychiatrists
Heap: Car
Heat: Police
Heater: gun
Heebie-Jeebies: The jitters.
Heeled: Carrying a gun
High-Hat: To snub.
High pillow: Person at the top, in charge
Highbinders: Corrupt politician or functionary
Himey: derogatory term for a Jewish person
Hinky: Suspicious
Hitting the pipe: Smoking opium
Hitting on all eight: In good shape, going well (refers to eight cylinders in an engine)
Hock shop: Pawnshop
Hogs: Engines
Hombre: Man, fellow
Hooch: Liquor
Hood: Criminal
Hoofer: Dancer.
Hooker, as in "a stiff hooker of whiskey": A drink of strong liquor
Hoosegow: Jail
Hop: Drugs, mostly morphine or derivatives like heroin
Hop-head: Drug addict, esp. heroin
Horn: Telephone
Hot: Stolen
Hotsy-Totsy: Pleasing.
House dick: House/hotel detective
House peeper: House/hotel detective
Hype: Shortchange artist

I

Ice : Diamonds
In stir: In jail
Ing-bing, as in to throw an: A fit
Iron: A car

J

Jake: OK, as in, "Everything is Jake."
Jalopy: Old car.
Joint: A club, usually selling alcohol.

K

Kale: Money
Keen: Attractive or appealing.
Keister, keyster: Suitcase OR Safe, strongbox OR Buttocks
Kick, as in "I got no kick": I have nothing to complain about
Kick off: Die
Kicking the gong around: Taking opium
Kike: derogatory term for a Jewish person
Kiss: To punch
Kisser: Mouth
Kitten: Woman
Knock off: Kill
Knockover: Heist, theft

L

Lammed off: Ran away, escaped
Large: $1,000; twenty large would be $20,000
Law, the: The police
Lay: Job, as in Marlowe saying he's on "a confidential lay;" or more generally, what someone does, as in "The hotel-sneak used to be my lay"
Lead: "fill ya full of lead": the term used for bullets
Lead poisoning: To be shot
Lettuce: Folding money
Lid: Hat
Line: Insincere flattery.
Lip: (Criminal) lawyer
Lit, To be: To be drunk
Loogan: Marlowe defines this as "a guy with a gun"
Looker: Pretty woman
Look-out: Outside man
Lounge Lizard: a guy that is sexually active.
Lunger: Someone with tuberculosis

M

Mac: a man
Made: Recognized
Map: Face
Marbles: Pearls
Mark: Sucker, victim of swindle or fixed game
Maroon: person marked for a con or a gullible person.
Mazuma: Money
Meat, as in "He's your meat": He's the subject of interest, there's your man
Meat wagon: Ambulance
Mesca: Marijuana
Mic: derogatory term for an Irish person
Mickey Finn: (n) A drink drugged with knock-out drops
Mill: Typewriter
Mitt: Hand
Mob: Gang (not necessarily Mafia)
Mohaska: Gun
Moll: Girlfriend
Monicker: Name
Mouthpiece: Lawyer
Mud-pipe: Opium pipe
Mug: Face
Muggles: Marijuana
Mugs: Men (esp. dumb ones)
Mush: Face

N

Nailed: Caught by the police
Nance: An effeminate man
Necked: Kiss
Negro: term for an African-American
Nevada gas: Cyanide
Newshawk: Reporter
Newsie: Newspaper vendor
Nibble one: To have a drink
Nicked: Stole
Nigger: derogatory term for an African-American
Nippers: Handcuffs
Nix on (something): No to (something)
Noodle: Head
Nose-candy: Heroin, in some cases
Number: A person, can be either a man or a woman

O

Off the track, as in "He was too far off the track. Strictly section eight": Said about a man who becomes insanely violent
Op: Detective (esp. private), from "operative"
Orphan paper: Bad checks
Ossified: a drunk person.
Out on the roof, To be: To drink a lot, to be drunk
Oyster fruit: Pearls

P

Pet: Same as neck, but more so.
Pinch: To arrest.
Pushover: A person easily convinced or seduced.

R

Ritzy: Elegant (from the hotel).

S

Scram: Ask someone to leave immediately.
Sheba: A woman with sex appeal (from the move Queen of Sheba) or (e.g. Clara Bow).
Sheik: A man with sex appeal (from the Valentino movies).
Speakeasy: An illicit bar selling bootleg liquor.
Spiffy: An elegant appearance.
Struggle Buggy: the backseat of a car. A parent's worst nightmare.
Stuck On: Having a crush on.
Swanky: Ritzy.
Swell: Wonderful. Also: a rich man.

T

Tail: Shadow, follow
Take a powder: Leave
Take it on the heel and toe: Leave
Take on: Eat
Take for a Ride: To drive off with someone in order to bump them off.
Take the air: Leave
Take the bounce: To get kicked out (here, of a hotel)
Take the fall for: Accept punishment for
Tea: Marijuana
That's the crop: That's all of it
Three-spot: Three-year term in jail
Throw a joe: Pass out ?? (Key, 86)
Throw lead: Shoot bullets
Ticket: P.I. license
Tiger milk: Some sort of liquor
Tighten the screws: Put pressure on somebody
Tin: Badge
Tip a few: To have a few drinks
Tip your mitt: Show your hand, reveal something
Tomato: Pretty woman
Tooting the wrong ringer: Asking the wrong person
Torcher: Torch singer
Torpedoes: Gunmen
Trap: Mouth
Trigger man: Man whose job is to use a gun
Trip for biscuits, as in "You get there fast and you get there alone - or you got a trip for biscuits": Make the trip for no purpose, achieve no results T
rouble boys: Gangsters
Turn up: To turn in (to the police)
Twist: Woman
Two bits: $25, or 25 cents.

U

Under glass: In jail
Up-and-down, as in "to give something the up-and-down": A look
Upchuck: To vomit when one has drunk too much.
Uppers, as in "I've been shatting on my uppers for a couple of months now" or "I'm down on my uppers": To be broke

W

Weak sister: A push-over
Wear iron: Carry a gun
Wheats, as in "a stack of wheats": Pancakes
White: Gin ("a gallon of white")
Wikiup: Home
Wire, as in "What's the wire on them?": News, "What information do you have about them?"
Wise, To be To be knowledgeable of; put us wise: tell us
Wise head: A smart person
Wooden kimono: A coffin
Wop: derogatory term for an Italian
Worker, as in "She sizes up as a worker": A woman who takes a guy for his money
Wrong gee: Not a good fellow
Wrong number: Not a good fellow

Credit to The 1920’s