Susanna Calkins, Author
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The language of thieves...and why I can't write a whole book that way

1/3/2012

9 Comments

 
Picture
_ When I was first writing Monster at the Gate, I toyed with the idea of writing the whole book in authentic seventeenth century prose. 

That idea lasted about two seconds.

Partly because that trick's been done, you know, by actual writers from that time period, like Defoe.  And partly because I thought readers might throw rotten tomatoes at me for writing in such a cumbersome manner (heck, I might throw them at myself).

But mainly, it was because many seventeenth-century words and phrases don't translate readily today, and unless my editor lets me write a companion volume with glossary and explanatory footnotes, I don't think it would work (assuming I had the patience for such an endeavor, which I don't).

For example, criminals and thieves created their own language, "cant," which was deliberately designed to hide their shadowy doings. Amazingly though, a few curious contemporaries, such as Richard Head, decoded this elusive criminal language in cant dictionaries (similar to modern slang dictionaries), basically as a public service to let their readers in on what the criminals were doing.

So, for example, a thief might Bite the Peter or Roger (which our good Richard tells us means "steal the port-mantle or cloak-bag"), proceed to Tip the Cole to Adam Tyler ("give what money you pocket-pickt to the next party") , who might take it then to a stauling ken
(a "house that wyll receaue stolen ware.") (I guess we'd say 'fence?').

Some phrases are even harder to translate.
  So, say a broadside depicts what happens to a criminal who is caught. It might read:  “As the Prancer drew the Quire Cove at the Cropping of the Rotan through the Rum pads of the Rume vile, and was flog’d by the Nubbing-Cove.”

Huh?  Any guesses? No? Really?

Well, according to J. Coleman's History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries (Oxford, 2004), that statement translates to: “That is, The Rogue was drag’d at a Carts-arse, through the chief streets of London and was soundly whipt by the Hangman.”

You probably knew that.  Awesome stuff!


But I'm curious. Have you read any terrific (modern) books that were written completely in dialect? Did you find them hard-going? fun? or something in between? 


9 Comments
Jen
1/3/2012 03:46:59 pm

That's definately a foreign language.
I liked the writing style of "A Piece of Cake" by Cupcake Brown. It can be hard to read because it goes on and on past what you might call entertaining reading; but for the same reason seems convincing as a personal history.
I also like books which phonetically spell out the way a person speaks.

Reply
Jen
1/3/2012 03:51:47 pm

Cupcake Brown's writing gave me the feeling that I was listening to a friend tell me her story. In a different style, I wouldn't have enjoyed this book.

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Susie link
1/4/2012 04:58:09 am

Jen, I'm not familiar with Cupcake Brown, although what a cool name! She seems pretty readable, then. I can see what you mean about feeling a friend is telling you a story; that's a neat approach for an author to take anyway. Invites intimacy and connection.

Reply
Matt
1/3/2012 10:10:52 pm

Super cool! This reminds me of the short-hand that modern criminals have in movies, like Ocean's Eleven when Brad Pitt's character says,

"Off the top of my head, I'd say you're looking at a Boeski, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever."

Or, when Don Cheadle's character says he's having a "bit of barney," which means they're having trouble. There's some rhyming rule that connects them: Barney (Rubble) = Trouble

Clearly, only people in the know are meant to truly understand.

Reply
Matt
1/3/2012 10:27:24 pm

Oh, and to answer your question, I haven't read anything in dialect recently. I'd imagine that it might be fun for about the first 10 pages (having a companion reader, deciphering the language--essentially solving a puzzle). But, then I think it would get tedious for me.

Reply
Susie link
1/4/2012 05:02:51 am

Matt, those are great examples! You really have to have the right cultural reference points to understand what he's saying. what's a Boeski though? (should I know that?). The second part, the cockney rhyming slang, seems to have developed in the 1840s.

Reply
Jaynes
1/4/2012 02:46:33 am

I have read a few books where the authors are sitting on the edge of the Dialect pool splashing their legs around without fully jumping in. But we are talking 100 years max in the past, the phrases and words are still manageable. And to give the reader a break, they only have certain characters talk that way. It adds some authenticity to the story without making the reading experience a chore.

It would be no different than watching Das Boot in German with subtitles. Very authentic, but the translation is there. The movie is stretched out a bit to give you time to read...To watch it in English, I think would take away the "feel" of the movie. It may take the movie from the realm of "Great" to just "Good."

I can think of a couple of books that manage to inject some authentic old school English dialect into the story without seriously stopping the flow. No help is given, you just have to reread a couple of times to catch the meaning. Tis a fine line to walk when dealing with something as fluid as language...

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Susie link
1/4/2012 05:08:55 am

Jaynes, I like the image of sitting on the edge of the dialect pool and splashing your feet around. I like to sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle, but not saturate myself. Its an interesting thing about translations though--there's always that risk that some subtleties or complexities are lost. For example, I've heard many people complain that "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was a boring read, but in the original language (swedish?) the language is considered exquisite. So maybe that's an example of going from great to good. I think in the hands of a skillful writer, ongoing dialect can be quite nice.

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    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

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  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
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