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STREET STORIES
The World of Police Detectives
Robert Jackall
"Here are some other common Brooklyn street phrases collected during fieldwork. Some are criminal argot; some sendups of standard nomenclature; others verselike word play; others transvaluations of technical terms from another world; others dialectlike, metaphor rich approximations of standard usage, in which street experience trumps standard usage; and several others, particularly the medical terms, simply phonological errors that suggest the state of the public schools in New York City. My thanks to Michael Erard for his linguistic advice on these phrases."


PHRASE   MEANING  
Acting in concrete   Acting in concert  
Athletic flips with conversions  ... Epileptic fit with convulsions  
Colossal bag   Colostomy  
Diabolic   Diabetic  
Electrocution school   Electrician school  
Get indicated   Get indicted  
Getting paid   Doing robberies  
Fireballs in eucharist   Fibrosis of the uterus  
Leg Iron Street   Legion Street  
Lincoln Townhouse   Lincoln Town Car  
Mongo Merry Street   Montgomery Street  
Monogrammed headache   Migraine headache  
Onions   Bunions  
Persecuted   Prosecuted  
Provoked   Revoked  
Roaches of the liver   Cirrhosis of the liver  
Singing merry Jesus   Spinal meningitis  
Smoke insulation   Smoke inhalation  
Statue of liberties   Statute of limitations  
Streeticide   Outdoors homicide  
Subway farez   Savoir faire  
Throwing asparagus   Casting aspersions  
Veranda rights   Miranda rights  
Very closed veins   Varicose Veins  
Virginia   Vagina