Thief English Language Pack 4
Thaiel Trask
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]
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.
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.
Animals, such as foxes, had made their homes in the ruins of the gate, and many thieves made their home there, too. People even brought dead bodies to the gate and dropped them there. They did not have the money to bury them. At night, the gate was so creepy that nobody went inside.
One, he could remain honest. This would mean he would certainly starve. He would die, because he had no food. Many people were starving to death at that time in Kyoto. His dead body would be dropped at this very gate.
The man sneezed many times. Atchoo, atchoo, atchoo! The cold weather made him feel sick. He wished he could sit by a fire and heat up. Even the insects that were sat on the gate had gone now, because it was so cold.
He looked up at Rashoumon. There were stairs in the side of the gate that lead up to a small room. That was where people put the dead bodies. It was going to be very creepy, but he had no choice. He needed to get out of the cold. So he would have to spend the night there. He put his hand on the sword he had on his belt, and started to climb the stairs.
A few seconds later, he saw something move in the room above. He held his breath and watched. Someone had made a light up there, and they were moving around in the room. The light was yellow, and made the room look even creepier. He tried to keep as quiet as he could, and went up the rest of the stairs.
At the top, he could see several dead bodies lying on the floor. The light was weak, and it was too dark to see how many there were. Some were naked, and others still had their clothes. They looked so still, that it was hard to believe they were ever alive. The smell was so strong that he had to cover his nose with his hand.
In front of one of the bodies was an old woman. She had grey hair, and was holding a torch, which was where the light was coming from. She was looking right into the face of a dead woman with long, black hair. As he watched, the old woman grabbed the black hairs and pulled them out one by one.
Why was she pulling the hair out of the dead? It was hard to know whether she was truly evil, because he did not know why she did it. But pulling hair from the dead in Rashoumon, in the middle of a rainy night, was a serious crime to him. He quickly forgot that he had thought about becoming a thief.
The evil in her disappeared. Suddenly, she was an old woman, shaking with fear. She was just an old woman who stole hair from the dead to make wigs. She probably only made a small amount of money from them. But he still felt hate for her. The old woman saw this, and spoke.
The man put his sword away and listened to her. He felt courage, suddenly. When he grabbed the woman, he had felt hate. Now he felt courage. He stopped asking himself if he should starve to death or become a thief. The idea of starvation was now unbelievable.
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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]
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