Thief Language

[Geraldine Ferraiz]

Thieves' cant (also known as thieves' argot, rogues' cant, or peddler's French)[1] is a cant, cryptolect, or argot which was formerly used by thieves, beggars, and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries. It is now mostly obsolete and used in literature and fantasy role-playing, although individual terms continue to be used in the criminal subcultures of Britain and the United States.

Harman included a canting dictionary which was copied by Thomas Dekker and other writers. That such words were known to a wide audience is evidenced by the use of cant words in Jacobean theatre. Middleton and Dekker included it in The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cut-Purse (1611). It was used extensively in The Beggars' Bush, a play by Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, first performed in 1622, but possibly written c. 1614. The play remained popular for two centuries, and the canting section was extracted as The Beggars Commonwealth by Francis Kirkman as one of the drolls he published for performance at markets, fairs and camps.

The influence of this work can be seen from the independent life taken on by the "Beggar King Clause", who appears as a real character in later literature. The ceremony for anointing the new king was taken from Thomas Harman and described as being used by Romani people in the nineteenth century. Bampfylde Moore Carew, who published his picaresque Life in 1745, claimed to have been chosen to succeed "Clause Patch" as King of the Beggars, and many editions of his work included a canting dictionary. Such dictionaries, often based on Harman's, remained popular, including The Canting Academy, or Devils Cabinet opened, by Richard Head (1673), and BE's Dictionary of the Canting Crew (1699).[citation needed]

It was commonly believed that cant developed from Romany. Etymological research now suggests a substantial correlation between Romany words and cant, and equivalents, in many European languages. However, in England, Scotland, and Wales this does not apply. The Egyptians, as they were known, were a separate group from the standard vagabonds, and cant was fully developed within 50 years of their first arrival in England. Comparison of Romany words in the Winchester Confessions taken in 1616 with modern Welsh Romani show high commonality. This record also distinguished between Romany and Cant words and again the attributions of the words to the different categories is consistent with later records.[3]

There is doubt as to the extent to which the words in canting literature were taken from street usage, or were adopted by those wishing to show that they were part of a real or imagined criminal underworld. The transmission has almost certainly been in both directions. The Winchester Confessions indicate that Roma engaged in criminal activities, or those associated with them and with a good knowledge of their language, were using cant, but as a separate vocabulary - Angloromani was used for day to day matters, while cant was used for criminal activities.[3] A thief in 1839 claimed that the cant he had seen in print was nothing like the cant then used by Roma, thieves and beggars. He also said that each of these used distinct vocabularies, which overlapped; the Roma having a cant word for everything, and the beggars using a lower style than the thieves.[4]

I think you've hit one of those places where the game rules have attempted to fit a round peg into a square hole. Mechanically the way the rules treat thieves' cant (as a language) appears to jar slightly with the way you'd most likely rationalise it being used narratively.

It's worth noting that both of these quotes refer to it as a 'secret language and that it is not listed in either the standard or the exotic language lists. This is support for it sitting slightly uncertainly alongside other normal languages.

Proficiency in thieves' cant allows a thief to have an apparently innocuous conversation in Common (or any other spoken language) while employing a series of techniques in order to communicate a specific message, entirely unbeknownst to unenlightened listeners. If they were speaking either another language entirely, a variant of Pig Latin, or even something like cockney rhyming slang, then it would not appear to be 'a seemingly normal conversation' to a casual observer - even if they'd be none the wiser to the words actual significance.

Yes - mechanically the game treats it as one, referring to it within lists of languages on a couple of occasions - you can even take it as a language option if your DM allows. It also has elements of a basic written language, as it's able to convey 'short simple messages' through signs and symbols. And understanding of these symbols is not apparently in any way localised - unlike a real world cant or argot.

However, No, it's not a language in the plainest sense. It cannot be spoken on its own but relies on the thief speaking another language while applying a series of verbal techniques in order to disguise their true meaning. Thieves' cant can apparently be applied to a conversation in Gnomish or Abyssal just as easily as one in Common and it therefore must be considered more of an array of obfuscating oratory techniques than any kind of linguistic dialect.

Linguistically, Thieves' Cant is a cant (unsurprisingly) or argot. Its use in D&D is based on the real-life thieves' cant used in Britain originating in the 14th century and popularised in Elizabethan literature.

If a couple of kids managed to provide the evidence that allowed the police to convict a thief (as in the Famous Five), what would a UK newspaper headline be? "Kids catch thief"? "Children catch thief"? "Children convict thief"? ... ?

Headline writers are individual, and might write anything they think is appropriate. Moreover headlines are often chosen to fit within the available column width, so the choice might well depend on where in the paper the headline was to occur. Different papers take different views on which abbreviations are appropriate on which occasions. A tabloid might be more included to use 'kids' than a broadsheet, but neither might think it appropriate to a serious story as opposed to a lighter one.

Steve Riedner of Schaumberg, Ill., was a 55-year-old tool-and-die maker, a job that involves difficult mental calculations, and a frequent speaker at community meetings when he found himself increasingly at a loss for words and unable to remember numbers. He even began to have difficulty reading his own written comments.

The neurologist he consulted thought Mr. Riedner had suffered a stroke and for three years treated him with cholesterol-lowering medication. But instead of his language ability stabilizing or improving, as should happen following a stroke, it got worse.

Psychological scientists have long known that psychological and social factors can affect our responses to viral infections and vaccinations, but that critical connection seems to have eluded many of the public health officials and others charged with leading the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic in its early days.

Shandie and Krydle signing thieves' cant to each other.Thieves' cantSpoken inAcross FaernSpoken byRoguesInspired byThieves' cant[1]Thieves' cant, or simply cant,[2] was the secret language spoken and signed by rogues, the priests of duplicitous deities,[3][4][5][6] and criminals of the Realms.[7][8][9]

While some scholars believed thieves' cant was not a true language,[11] it utilized a unique set of grammar,[12] combined with local dialects, idioms, coded language,[7][11] and hand gestures.[13][14]

While it allowed for secret communication between rogues and thieves of the Realms,[7] thieves' cant did not exist independent of other languages. It was impossible for two thieves to communicate in cant, if they did not have at least one shared language.[11]

Spoken thieves' cant utilized a narrower set of vowel sounds and elongated syllables. The first syllable of each word received primary stress, while odd syllables in longer words were given secondary stress.[12] Some variants of thieves' cant employed a series of animal noises.[16]

Some priests and specialty priests of certain deities understood and utilized thieves' cant, notably demarches and demarchesses of Mask,[3] the aetharnor of Abbathor,[4] the hurndor of Vergadain,[27] mischiefmakers of Erevan Ilesere,[5] fastpaws of Baervan Wildwanderer,[28] and misadventurers of Brandobaris.[6]

English is the main language spoken in The City, and is stratified into distinct dialects. The Hammerites and Mechanists speak an imitation of Early Modern English, popularly known for Shakespeare's works. Pagans speak in a fractured pidgin. Modern English is spoken through all citizen classes. Commoners and guards speak with American or British Cockney accents, or Poshed American or British accents for the upper class. Even stereotypical "pirate" slang is used by sailors and fishermen.[1]

You may be familiar with the film Rashomon, but actually the story is not this one. The same setting is used in the film as in this story, but the plot of the film Rashomon is from In a Grove, which is a story by the same author.

Nobody else stood under the wide gate. It had once been bright red, but now the colour was fading. Large parts of the paint were coming off. On some parts of the gate sat insects. Rashoumon was on a large street, so usually there would be other people there, waiting for the rain to stop. But nobody else stood under the wide gate.

The city of Kyoto, where the gate stood, had suffered many problems in the past few years. The earth shook, winds attacked the city, and there were great fires. Many people died. Those who survived had to become thieves and murderers. People went into temples and stole Buddhist statues, and broke them into pieces, so that they could use them to light fires. So with all this trouble, it was not surprising that Rashoumon was falling apart.

c80f0f1006