Mask of the Verdoy
Page 58
‘Now, there’s no point dwelling on might-have-beens, you’ll only upset yourself. Albert’s on the mend now, that’s the important thing, and he needs you to be strong to help him with the process … Oh, do forgive me, my dear! Do you know George? George Harley?’ Swales turned to the private detective, who raised his hat to the widow with a smile.
Mrs. Pearson took a step closer and lifted her veil, peering at Harley with a pair of blue eyes that had suddenly lost their twinkle.
‘So you’re him, are you?’ she said, a hardness entering into her voice, broadening the accent.
‘Mrs. Pearson, it’s good to hear that Albert is—’
But Harley was brought to an abrupt halt as the petite woman went up on tiptoes to deliver a hard slap to his cheek.
A murmur rippled through the group of mourners as he put his hand to his face in surprise.
‘What was that for?’
‘You know damn well what that was for! My Albert was a happy, contented family man until you started filling his head with all of your stuff and nonsense—your politics … and your godlessness … and your … your bawdy house morals and filthy language! I know my Albert better than anyone—there’s no way he would have taken such a stupid risk if he hadn’t been goaded on by the likes of you! Just to think what could have happened … to think that it might so easily have been my Albert in that box.’
Swales placed a hand on the distraught Mrs. Pearson’s shoulder.
‘June, my dear, I really don’t think that—’
‘No, it’s alright, FW,’ said Harley. ‘I’ll go. These things give me the willies anyway … Your Albert’s a fine bloke, Mrs. Pearson—one of the best. And I know for a fact he loves you and the nipper to bits. I wish you all the luck for the future.’ He lifted his hat once more to the policeman’s wife and strode off uphill, back towards the gates.
‘That’s right!’ she murmured under her breath. ‘Off you go, George Harley! Skulk off back to your villains and your whores!’
June Pearson fished a compact out her handbag to attend to her face … and by the time she looked up to check on Harley the private detective had already disappeared, engulfed in the gathering cloud of fog … on his way back to the black beating heart of the city.
GLOSSARY OF SLANG
I have endeavoured to use authentic 1930s slang in the novel. As well as referring to contemporary fiction of the period, I also found the following dictionaries of slang extremely useful:
Captain Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (London, 1931)
Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of the Underworld (London, 1949)
Jonathan Green, The Cassell Dictionary of Slang (London, 1998)
Abbreviations
backsl. - backslang: a type of slang where the written word is pronounced backwards (e.g. “yob” for “boy”).
Pol. - Polari: theatrical cant first used by actors, circus folk and fairground showmen. Later taken up by the gay subculture.
Rom. - Romany: the language of the Romany people (Gypsies). An Indo-European language related to Hindustani.
rhy.sl - rhyming slang: a variety of slang where a word is replaced by a phrase (usually clipped) which rhymes with it (e.g. barnet = barnet fair = hair).
Yid. - Yiddish: the historical language of Ashkenazi Jews, based on German dialect with added words from Hebrew, Polish, French and English.
anny - gin [rhy.sl anne boleyn = gin]
arris - the behind [rhy.sl aristotle = bottle = bottle and glass = arse]
asterbar - a bastard [semi-backsl.]
bang your kettle - to look at a watch [the early large pocket watches resembled kettles]
barney - a pocket [rhy.sl barney moke = poke]
batt - shoes [Pol.]
berk - a fool, an incompetent [rhy.sl Berkeley hunt = cunt]. Since the 1930s this has fallen into common usage; although I would imagine that most people would not use it so readily if they knew its origin
bleat - to inform on someone to the Police
blue ruin - gin [“blue” as in miserable; i.e. its effects]
boat - the face [rhy.sl boat race = face]
bogey - CID detective [“Old Bogey” = the Devil]
bold - daring [Pol.]
bolshie - a left-winger, socialist or an opponent of the status quo. Also uncooperative, subversive, obstructive [from Bolshevik]
bona - good, pleasant; very [Pol. Italian buono, good]
bona nochy - goodnight [Pol. Italian buonanotte, goodnight]
bonaroo - wonderful, excellent [Pol. Italian buono, good]
borarco - a drunkard [Pol. Spanish borracho, drunkard]
brama - a pretty woman [British Raj -Brahma is the supreme God of Hindu mythology]
brass - a prostitute [rhy.sl brass nail = tail; tail was a 19C term for a prostitute]
bright’un - a gun [from its shiny surface?]
Buck House - Buckingham Palace, London home of the Royal Family
bunce - money, profit [perhaps from bonus]
burick - a common, or flashily-dressed woman; prostitute [Rom. burk, breast]
butcher’s - a look [rhy.sl butcher’s hook = look]
buvare – a drink [Pol.]
cabbage - cash [US - green banknotes]
cackle - empty chatter, gossip [the sound made by a hen]
case up - to live with as if married [Italian casa, house]
caught out - pregnant
charpering omi - a policeman [Pol. Italian cecare, to seek; uomo, man]
cheese it! - shut up! stop it! [a corruption of “cease it!”]
chicken - a young male homosexual
chife/chiv - a knife, a razor [Rom. chiv, chive, knife]
chiv-man - a criminal apt to use a knife or razor as a weapon [see chife/chiv]
chokey - prison [British Raj -Hindustani chauki, customs house or police station]
chordy gear - stolen goods [Rom. cor, to steal]
claret - blood [its resemblance to red wine]
cod - vile [Pol.]
corybungus - the behind [Pol.]
cowson - a general insult, similar to son of a bitch.
crease - to kill [from the body creasing at the waist]
cut up didoes - to play pranks
deadly nevergreen - the gallows
Dilly, the - Piccadilly, London
dilly boy - a teenage male prostitute [Piccadilly was well-known for its prostitution]
dinarly - money [Pol. Spanish dinero, money, Italian denaro, money]
dog’s soup - water
dollar - five shillings
dorcas - someone who is caring, generous [The Dorcas Society was a ladies’ charitable church association]
drag - a motor vehicle [originally a term for a stage coach, which is dragged by its team of horses]
eyetie - an Italian [derogatory; exaggerated pronunciation]
eye-water - gin
factory - a police station
finocchio - a male homosexual [Italian finocchio, fennel]
fogus - tobacco [“Cod Latin” elaboration of fog]
gammon - chatter, nonsense, cheating patter [ perhaps from tying up a ham]
garret - the head [it is at the top of the house]
gelt - money [Yid. gelt, money]
Corporal Dunlop - a short rubber truncheon
gentle persuader - a gun, a hammer
gillflirt - a vain capricious woman [gill, girl, lass]
ginney - an Italian [derogatory; ? from Italian seaman sailing from the Guinea Coast]
god forbids - children [rhy.sl god forbids = kids]
gold watch - whisky [rhy.sl gold watch = scotch]
goy - a gentile, a non-Jew [Yid. from the Hebrew goy, a nation]
groin/groinage - ring(s), especially set with gems [from tramp slang gravney/grawney, ring]
half-a-bar - ten shillings [bar = £1 sterling;? from Rom. bauro, heavy, big]
hocus - to incapacitate someone with drugged liquor
homi-pol
oney - an effeminate male homosexual [Pol. Italian uomo, man; pollo, chicken]
ikey-mo - a Jew [derogatory; from Isaac + Moses]
iron - a male homosexual [rhy.sl iron hoof = poof]
ixnay - nothing, not at all [backsl. nix; from German nichts, nothing]
jane - a prostitute [rhy.sl jane shore = whore; Jane Shore - mistress of Edward IV]
jarry - food [Pol. Italian mangiare, to eat]
joe ronce - a ponce (pimp) [rhy.sl see ponce]
judy - a woman, a girl [from Punch and Judy]
kaffies - trouser [Pol.]
kate and sidney - steak and kidney [rhy.sl]
keep nix - to act as a lookout
khazi - a toilet [ ? British Raj—derogatory allusion to the habits of the Khasi people]
kibbitz - to offer unwanted advice in a card game [Yid. from German Kiebitz, lapwing]
kite - the stomach [? from British dialect kyte, womb, stomach]
knowledge box - the head
kvetch - to whine, to complain [Yid.]
lakes - mad [rhy.sl lakes of Killarney = barmy]
lamp - a black eye
lavender boy - a male homosexual [? from the lavender water that they used]
lilly/lilly law - a policeman/the police [Pol.]
lit up - drunk
lumbered - arrested
madam, a load of old - nonsense, rubbish, flattery [? from shopkeepers’ patter: ‘Of course it will, madam’]
mamzer - a bastard—though used as a term of endearment [Yid. mamzer, bastard]
manor - a police district; a policeman’s beat; a wide-boy’s patch [from “Lord of the manor”]
meshugaas - craziness [Yid.]
meshuggener – crazy, a crazy person [Yid.]
milky - cowardly, scared
mooey - the mouth [Rom. mooi, mouth]
mort - a woman, especially a prostitute [? from Old Dutch mot, whore]
mott - see mort
mott shop - a brothel
mush - a man, a “chap” [Rom. moosh, a man]
muzzler - a male homosexual [from the muzzle - mouth, hence to fellate]
myrna loy - a saveloy [rhy.sl Myrna Loy = saveloy; Myrna Loy - movie star]
nanti - not, nothing, none [Pol. Italian niente, nothing]
nark - a police informer [Rom. nak, nose]
nebbish - a nobody, a loser [Yid. nebech, an inept pitiable man]
nix - nothing [from German nichts, nothing]
nymph of the pave - a prostitute
off-the-cob - corny, unfashionable [US from corncob—an implication of rustic poverty]
oil of angels - a bribe [an angel was an old English coin]
oily - a cigarette [rhy.sl oily rag = fag]
old slithery, the - sex
on the bash - to work as a prostitute [from bash, bang, bonk etc.]
on the ribs - to be without any visible means of subsistence [so starved the ribs are showing]
on velvet - to be well off, living in clover
oncer - £1 sterling
ones-and-twos - shoes [rhy.sl ones-and-twos = shoes]
pen and ink - stink [rhy.sl pen and ink = stink]
pen yen - opium [? from the Cantonese nga pun-yin, opium]
people - trustworthy, loyal, safe; able to keep secrets [see staunch]
pester up - to pay, to pay up [Rom. pesser, pay]
pinch - to arrest
plates - feet [rhy.sl plates of meat = feet]
ponce - a pimp, a man “living off immoral earnings” [? from French Alphonse, or possibly pont or pontonnière, a prostitute who works from the arches of a bridge]
pooter - a prostitute [? from British Raj—Hindustani poot, shilling]
pouch - to carry a weapon
pound-noteish - pompous, affected [seen as characteristics of the rich]
pronterino - quickly
put the buff in downy - to go to bed [buff = skin, downy = feather bed]
put the kibosh on - to spoil, to ruin [? Yid. kabas, to suppress]
put the oliver on - to scam [from Oliver Twist - a dishonest twist]
put the squeak in - to inform on
put up the fanny - to tell a false story
queanie - a male homosexual [from Old English cwene, woman]
rod - an overcoat [? a connection to 19C rockalow, from the French roquelaure, a type of cloak]
rosie - tea [rhy.sl rosie lee = tea; Gypsy Rose Lee - American stripper]
schlemiel - a fool, a clumsy person, a misfit [Yid.]
schlep - to travel an inconvenient distance [Yid. schlep, to drag]
schmendrik - a clueless mama’s boy [Yid.]
schmundie - the vagina [Yid.]
schmutter - clothes [Yid. shmatte, rags]
schtuk - trouble, bother [despite its appearance not a Yiddish word; ? stuck adapted to a Yiddish model]
schtum - quiet, silent [Yid. shtum, dumb, voiceless]
screever - a pavement artist who draws in coloured chalk [Italian scrivere, to write]
screwsman - a skilled house-beaker [screw is criminal slang for a skeleton key]
shant of bivvy - a pot or pint of beer [bivvy from Latin bibere, to drink]
shant of wallop - a pot or pint of beer [“wallop” as in its effects on the drinker]
sharper - to steal, to cheat [Pol. as in card sharp]
sharpy - a policeman [Pol. from charpering omi – see above]
sheeny - a Jew [derogatory; from Yid. shayner Yid, a beautiful-faced Jew - i.e. a description of an old-fashioned traditional European Jew]
schlemozzle - disturbance, uproar, noise [Yid.]
shice - nothing, no good [Yid. scheisse, shit]
shicer - a lowlife, good-for-nothing [see shice]
skimish - beer/alcohol [from Shelta (travellers’ language)]
smother - an overcoat [ it smothers the wearer, but also ? from Yid. shmatte, rags]
snide - counterfeit [? from German schneide, to cut, as in to cut fake coins]
snow - cocaine
soup - thick London smog [its resemblance to pea soup]
spieler - an illegal gambling club [German spielen, to play]
spruce – to tell lies, to cheat, to flatter [i.e. “sprucing up” the facts]
squirter - a gun
staunch - trustworthy, loyal, safe; able to keep secrets [see people]
steamer - a fool, a gullible person, a punter [rhy.sl steam tug = mug]
stir - prison [Rom. sturiben, prison]
stone-ginger - an absolute certainty [Stone Ginger was a celebrated champion racehorse in New Zealand; the meaning is emphasised by the use of stone to mean “absolutely”—e.g. stone blind, stone-cold sober etc.]
straight-cut - a respectable woman
stripe - to slash with a cut-throat razor
take stoppo - to be obliged to run away [acting on the lookout’s cry of “stop!”]
tightener - a substantial meal [its effects on the stomach, especially if it is a rarity]
tomfoolery - jewellery [rhy.sl tomfoolery = jewellery]
top-storey man - a cat-burglar
trade - a prostitute’s clients
treyf - not kosher [Yid.]
troll - of a prostitute, to work the streets looking for punters [Pol.]
tub - an omnibus [from its resemblance to a bath tub]
tut - (pronounced like put) rubbish, worthless items [probably a corruption of tot, bone as in totter, rag-and-bone man; from German tod, dead]
vada - to look at [Pol. Venetian vardia, a look]
vodeodo - money [a playful rendering of dough]
whistle - a suit [rhy.sl whistle and flute = suit]
wide - sharp-witted, shrewd; also (of clothing) flash, ostentatious [wide awake]
wide-boy - petty criminal, wheeler-dealer, minor villain
wind pudding, to eat - to go without food
work the black - to blackmail
yews - the eyes [Pol. French yeux, eyes]
yiddified - anti-Semitic
yok - a gentile, a non-Jew [backsl. see goy]
George Harley returns in:
THE GRIMALDI
VAULTS
To discover more about the George Harley Mysteries visit:
www.georgeharley.com
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books used in the general research for creating the George Harley Mysteries:
Allingham, Philip, Cheapjack, William Heinemann Ltd 1934
Blumenfeld, Simon, Jew Boy (1935), London Books Ltd 2011
Blythe, Ronald, The Age of Illusion (1963), Phoenix Press 2001
Branson, Noreen, Britain in the Nineteen Twenties, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1976
Burke, Thomas, Limehouse Nights (1917), Daily Express Fiction Library 1930
Collins, Norman, London Belongs to Me (1945), Penguin Classics 2008
Curtis, James, They Drive by Night (1938), London Books Ltd 2008
Curtis, James, The Gilt Kid (1936), London Books Ltd 2007
Fabian, Robert, Fabian of the Yard, The Naldrett Press Ltd 1950
Frost, George ‘Jack’, Flying Squad, Rockliff Publishing Corporation Ltd 1950
Gardiner, Juliet, The Thirties, Harper Press 2010
Greene, Graham, Brighton Rock (1938), Penguin Books 1991
Glinert, Ed, West End Chronicles, Penguin Books 2008
Hamilton, Patrick, Hangover Square (1941), Penguin Books 1974
Hamilton, Patrick, The Slaves of Solitude (1947), Constable 2006
Hamilton, Patrick, Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (1935), Vintage 2010
Kersh, Cyril, The Aggravations of Minnie Ashe, Pan Books Ltd 1971
Kersh, Gerald, The Angel and the Cuckoo (1967), London Books Ltd 2011
Kersh, Gerald, Fowlers End, Simon and Schuster Inc. 1957
Kersh, Gerald, Night and the City (1938), London Books Ltd 2007
Kersh, Gerald, Prelude to a Certain Midnight (1947), Blackmask.com 2005
Kohn, Marek, Dope Girls, Granta 2001
Litvinoff, Emanuel, Journey Through a Small Planet (1972), Robin Clark Ltd 1993
Maclaren-Ross, Julian, Of Love and Hunger (1947), Penguin Books 2002
Morton, James and Parker, Gerry, Gangland Bosses, Time Warner Books 2005
Overy, Richard, The Morbid Age, Penguin Books 2010
Pugh, Martin, We Danced All Night, Vintage 2009
Smithson, “Gentleman George”, Raffles in Real Life, Hutchinson & Co, 1930