Today, Zon phrases can often be heard everywhere: among young people who have nothing to do with the criminal world, from the lips of young mothers and the elderly, as well as from teenagers and even young children.
Why is thieves' jargon so popular these days?
The reason that Zon phrases are so in demand in everyday life today is the romanticization of prison life. You need to thank for this thieves chanson, movies and books that show beautiful and strong personalities belonging to the criminal environment. It is in fiction and cinematic creations that the realism of depicting life in places of deprivation of liberty or after release flourishes. Therefore, Zon's phrases fit into the works quite organically.
Why do young people use jargon?
There are several reasons why young people actively use Zon phrases in speech.
- Youthful nihilism that opposes "correct speech" makes teenagers talk in ways that annoy adults.
- The desire to appear stronger than it really is, "cooler" than their peers, pushes them to insteadthe generally accepted and understandable speech "to work on a hair dryer."
- Deliberate rudeness in behavior and, of course, in conversations is a way to hide your youthful shyness and self-doubt from prying eyes. For example, the thieves' phrase "You will answer for the bazaar!" the young man warns that he should not be lied to, otherwise the one who lied will be severely punished. It is likely that the boy will not be able to do anything for lying. But the phrase itself, as it were, elevates him above the one to whom it is addressed.
- A peculiar mechanism of protection from unpleasant life situations is the replacement of generally accepted words with jargon. For example, if instead of the phrase “a place for the detainees to stay in the police station” we use the funny jargon “monkey”, then this partially removes the tragedy of what is happening, distracts from the cruel reality. Insulting a “radish” (a bad person) sounds somehow not offensive at all, but even to some extent ironic. It is much nicer than being compared to some animals or even waste products.
About where prison vocabulary came from
The thieves' environment needed a "coded" language. After all, it was not always possible to transmit messages confidentially. Using a special language understandable only to the initiated, one can, for example, agree on the place and time of the impending crime, on the number of participants, and convey some important details.
But creating a completely new language from scratch is a rather painstaking and complicated matter. Therefore, the declassed elements found the mostavailable option. They used as a basis for their slang language wandering merchants, who were then called ofen. Hence the name of the thug jargon. The phrase “Speak the language of thieves” sounds like: “Bot on a hair dryer.”
The dictionary of criminal slang includes many words from Yiddish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, English and other languages.
Should creative people learn thieves' jargon?
Of course, you don't have to do that. Many people lived their lives quite happily without knowing a single word from the criminal dictionary. But it is simply necessary for writers, journalists, screenwriters to know at least superficially some of the frequently used vocabulary of asocial elements. Otherwise, how to recreate realistic pictures of everyday life?
You can imagine for a moment such an episode filmed in the film: two guys decided to pull a tape recorder out of the car. One of them says to his partner: “You will stay under the tree and make sure that no one prevents me from accomplishing my plan. In which case, signal the danger!”
After that, he began to implement the plan. And suddenly the owner himself comes out of the entrance! Then the one who was left to watch shouts to the second: “Comrade thief, danger! We need to get away!”
The situation is understandable, but the irony lies in the absurdity of the presentation of the event, since criminals will never speak so long and correctly. Rather, the picture should look like this.
One of the thieves says to the second: Iwent to work, and you remain on the lookout! Briefly and clearly. And when the owner of the car appeared, standing on the nix, he shouted just one word: “Atas!” This will be enough to signal the approaching danger.
Law enforcement and criminal jargon
Well, these people are simply nowhere without knowledge of thieves' vocabulary. Investigators, taking the testimony of witnesses, write down what the latter heard. To understand what was discussed between the accomplices, you need to be well versed in the argo of criminal elements.
“Vaska and says to the bald man with whom they sat down in the kitchen to drink: “Tomorrow we will go to the ears. I have one bell pepper in mind. Do not take feathers - we don’t need wetness! Fat doesn’t blather anything - he, for one, knocks on everyone … If we fail, you will answer for the bazaar!”
This speech translates as follows: “Tomorrow we will go to the robbery. I have a rich man in mind. Do not take knives - we do not need murder! Don’t tell Fatty anything, he’s completely messed up, I think he’s denouncing everyone to the authorities… If we get caught red-handed at the crime scene, you will be punished as if you talked about plans!”
By the way, for law enforcement officers, the study of the jargon dictionary is a must. And in films about “cops” (police officers) and “opers” (operatives), such episodes are often found.
Some words from the dictionary of criminals
- Authority is a thief in law, a respected person in the criminal world.
- Alberka - injection syringe.
- Altushki, bashli, bobuli, cabbage -money.
- The poster is a fat face.
- Beach is a weak character who is addicted to stronger ones.
- Babai is an old man.
- Huckster is a speculator.
- Babets is an old aunt.
- Babich - shirt.
- Balagas - sugar.
- Brothers are eyes.
- Wade - street.
- Widong - yell.
- Wayer is a newspaper.
- Vaksa - vodka.
- Jban - head.
- Finch is a cowardly person.
- Rat, rat house - stealing little things from his cellmates.
- Skewing - peeping.
- A puddle is a sheet.
- Twist the moon - deceive.
- Oil-cartridges.
- Washer - stealing from drunkards.
- Radish is not a good person.
- Bows, crabs, wings - hands.
- Pheasant is a hoax.
- Shementom - fast.
- Skins are stolen goods.
