Lunfardo Criminal EEUU 1811

En Project Guttenberg un diccionario de lunfardo criminal estadounidense del siglo XIX, 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose.

Algunos ejemplos:

ACADEMY, or PUSHING SCHOOL. A brothel. The Floating Academy; the lighters on board of which those persons are confined, who by a late regulation are condemned to hard labour, instead of transportation.--Campbell's Academy; the same, from a gentleman of that name, who had the contract for victualling the hulks or lighters.

GAME. Any mode of robbing. The toby is now a queer game; to rob on the highway is now a bad mode of acting. This observation is frequently made by thieves; the roads being now so well guarded by the horse patrole;and gentlemen travel with little cash in their pockets.

KNIGHT OF THE ROAD. A highwayman.

LEFT-HANDED WIFE. A concubine; an allusion to an ancient German custom, according to which, when a man married his concubine, or a woman greatly his inferior, he gave her his left hand.

Foto: Leonardo Di Caprio como lider de la pandilla Dead Rabbits en la pelicula Gangs of New York.