'Australian' Rhyming Argot in the American Underworld
1944; Duke University Press; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/487290
ISSN1527-2133
Autores Tópico(s)Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
Resumoillogical, since many expert criminals hail from Australia and since the rhyming argot is most widely used on the West Coast. Over a period of years I have been collecting this argot and noting its geographical distribution; recently I forwarded several hundred selected items to Mr. Sidney J. Baker, the Australian lexicographer, for checking against Australian usage. The results are given in the following pages. First, a word about this argot and its use in the United States. Briefly, its notable features are the following: Each meaning is expressed by a pair of words the second of which rhymes (or rhymes imperfectly) with the meaning. The predominant rhythm of these pairs is either iambic or trochaic and usually carries over into the meaning, dinky-dirt, a shirt. The key word (a shirt) is not expressed but is left for the hearer to supply. There is frequently-too frequently to be coincidental-a connection between the sound and the sense, or between the imagery and the sense, or both. There is a tendency (notably less pronounced than in Australia) to clip one term and allow the other to carry the meaning even though it no longer rhymes, as twist, a girl, from twist and twirl. There is a marked lack of technical meanings, indicating that rhyming argot has never been specialized to any criminal craft; the more highly specialized crim-
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