I have always loved 1920s gangster speak! Actually, aside from the slang that pertains to crime, it really emanated from a mostly urban youth culture in the decade of the 1920s that reminded me of my own youth in the 60s. In both eras if you wanted to belong to hip current trends it was incumbent upon you to communicate properly, and I highly doubt that much has changed in that respect about being "hip."
Over the last four decades as I worked on my book, Deadly Valentines [Chicago Review Press, $24.95], researching the Capone era, the real gems that I found were always what Jack McGurn or his paramour, Louise Rolfe, actually said. Their idiom was almost perfectly pure because until 1927 there were no talking films. After The Jazz Singer, colloquial speech was no longer in the screen titles; you could hear the voice and all the nuances that accompanied it. The first cinematic criminal roles copied the gangsters in New York and especially Chicago. Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney studied the Capone boys and how to sound like them, and so did the scriptwriters. Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe did most of their talking to newspaper reporters after the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. The early talkies scriptwriters eagerly emulated them, picking up their authenticity for the movies. Robinson even attended the tax evasion trial of Al Capone in October, 1931, sitting at the back of the courtroom taking notes.
In the 1920s, gangsters like Jack McGurn - Al Capone's main assassin and general of his troops - would begin many sentences with "Say." For example: "Say, what's the beef?" Or, "Say, I wasn't anywhere near the place. See?" Say and see were like bookends to the street comment. I find it interesting that there is so often a hip way of commonly beginning a sentence and every generation has their own. But the deeper gangster speak requires knowledge of a lexicon that is pure street poetry.
For example, Al Capone might say: "Jack, go uptown with Roscoe and send this punk's mother some flowers. See?" And Jack would reply: "Sure!" Translation: "Jack, drive into the city and kill this guy. Understand?" Jack: "I read you loud and clear!"
The subcultures of the '20s were stuffed with great hipster colloquialisms. Gams were women's legs. Pretty women were Dolls; Pretty women like Jack McGurn's girlfriend, Louise Rolfe, were Molls because they hung out with gangsters. Guns were rods, Roscoes, or gats. Somebody who shot at you was "throwing lead." If you were killed, you were "bumped off," "rubbed out" or "taken for a ride." If you went to prison you were "away at college" or "on vacation." If you were inebriated you were "spifflicated," "boiled as an owl" or "blotto." A gal who was "hot" was "running wild," a "flaming youth" and she had "animal magnetism." If you were ambushed you were "put on the spot."
Quite often ordinary people living outside large cities found it difficult to even understand the hipster-talking urban denizens until films and radio began to illuminate the meaning. Soon everybody was incorporating various terms into their own speech because if you think film is a powerful medium now, it was a cathartic genesis in the late '20s and early '30s.
So the hipster speak went from the young people on the streets to the hinterlands via print, radio, and especially movies. Here's a little paragraph from Chicago in the '20s:
"Say, what's coming off? You had the heebie jeebies last night, see? I thought you were gonna' snap your braces! One minute you were taking a gander at that oater, and before I knew it you were on the lam, your peepers were pie tins! Then you went scorching!"
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
PSA: TO EVERYONE WHO WANTS AN UPDATED AND BETTER VERSION OF THIS, CHECK OUT -mods.com/scripts/ls-gangsta-mod#description_tab
It's the exact same mod written from scratch on the new script hook so you don't have to downgrade and it's IMO better designed and has less glitches. Have a good one!
Invited to Euronews Albania, Hoxha said that the young man has been identified as Xuliano Prenga, originally from Gjegjani i Puka, raised in Sweden. Prenga executed Iraqi mobster Mustafa Aljiburi, known by the nickname "Benzema".
"We are so spread out that it seems a great wonder how such a small nation can have such a large geographical spread. The Last Event is a Hollywood script, I found it extraordinary. First, how can I make a 19-year-old, leave from a small town north of Stockholm, go to Baghdad on Sunday the 7th and on Monday the 8th eliminate one of the most famous characters in the world of crime, which also moves with an escort. He goes and hits with 14 shells a space somewhere around 10 cm by 10, like a table. Mustafa Aljiburi is one of the three leaders of the organization known as "Foxes of Kurdistan". The person who was killed is a Swedish citizen and to escape extradition he took Turkish nationality, then Iraqi nationality, while he also had Iranian nationality. The organization he leads has 6,000 members, a very violent organization. In addition to drug trafficking and clandestine activities in the Middle East, they took up cocaine trafficking in Scandinavia. They hit all the other groups and took over the retail distribution, which the other organizations, including the Albanians, have with the wholesale distribution ," said the journalist.
Hoxha emphasized that Juliano Prenga is in danger of being killed in the Baghdad prison and he is not being given a fair trial because he has a Swedish passport and the embassy of this country in Iraq was burned due to developments with the Koran.
"There is a problem now, he only has a Swedish passport and the Swedish embassy in Iraq has been burned down because of developments with the Koran. Second, Iraq has the death penalty, and it is seriously at risk of the death penalty because it has no legal recourse. He doesn't even have an Albanian passport because he lived in Albania until he was 8 years old and he didn't get his passport. The thing that his family members are looking for at least now is for him to be given a fair trial, as they are afraid that they will eliminate him and put him in prison ," said Hoxha.
An unusual bold script font is Lockon Velline. It combines tattoo and biker styles with a variety of brazen dynamism. This all-caps typeface with OpenType capabilities gives you the chance to make designs that are uniquely you and reflect your preferences.
The mafia movies of Journey served as the inspiration for this traditional MAFIA typeface. A hand-crafted font called MAFIA was also influenced by vintage book covers for famous novels and posters. With so many variations for each character, including common OpenType and additional, MAFIA includes capital letters, lowercase characters, digits, punctuation marks, and many other options to help you customize your design.
Ideal for usage in logotypes, letterheads, posters, clothing designs, labels, and other applications. Also supported tools like PopChar, Character Map for Windows, and Font Book for Mac (for Windows and Mac).
Mafia Mix is a Free Typeface designed by Woodcutter for usage in commercial settings. Mafia Mix is a Various typeface that works with all platforms, including PCs, Macs, Linux, iOS, and Android. There are 1 styles for this typeface (Mafia Mix).
Gangster is a rough, brush-style font that seems handwritten. It is perfect for making designs that are influenced by graffiti or for giving your page cover designs an urban feel because it has bold, rough edges. This font has an organic appearance because to the brush style. In contrast, the variety of font styles gives you the freedom to distinguish from your design.
Andhika Pradana created the Marleone Brando Font Family, which was released by IKIIKOWRK. There are two designs and family package options at Marleone Brando. Inspired by the typeface used in mafia movies, Marleone Brando is a strong, bold font with a distinct personality. Regular and oblique letters are used by Marleone Brando. This typeface gives off an image of being simple and elegant because it is bold and has a shadow line inside it. This typeface is ideal for a classy logo, branding, movie poster, magazine layout, sportswear, product packaging, quotes, or just as a chic text overlay to any backdrop image.
b37509886e