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Although not necessarily so:

gate fever (UK slang 2007) terror at the prospect of release from prison

phoenix (underworld slang 1925) one who enters the world after long imprisonment

boomerang (US slang) to return to prison almost immediately on finishing the last sentence

CLEAN SHIRT

Career criminals have always had to make calculations about the possible punishment they may have to endure, leading to a wide range of names for different prison sentences. Here’s a selection:

thirteen clean shirts (late 19C) three months’ imprisonment (at the rate of one shirt a week)

magazine (US 1920s) a six month jail sentence (the time it would take to read one if one could barely read)

the clock (Australian slang 1950) twelve months’ imprisonment (from the hours on a clock face)

pontoon (UK prison jargon 1950) a twenty-one month jail sentence (from the card-game in which a score of twenty-one is the optimum hand)

rouf (UK back slang* 1851) a four year sentence

taxi (US slang 1930) between five and fifteen years’ imprisonment (from the fares in cents displayed in New York taxis)

neves (UK back slang* 1901) a seven year sentence

work under the armpits (early 19C) to confine one’s criminality to such activities that would be classed as petty larceny (bringing a maximum sentence of seven years’ transportation rather than hanging)

working above the armpits (early 19C) to commit crimes that could lead to one’s execution

WORD JOURNEYS

to pay on the nail (1596) from a practice in medieval markets where instant justice was dealt to those who reneged on agreements or cheated their customers. Eventually it was decided that accounts be settled at counters (short pillars known as nails) in the open market place and in front of witnesses. Payments were placed on these counters for everyone to see that all was correct

not enough room to swing a cat (1771) refers to the whip used on board ships for dealing out punishment (the whip started as a cat-of-three-tails but became a cat-of-nine-tails by the end of the seventeenth century; this method of punishment continued until 1875)

nipper (16C) a thief, person who nipped or pinched; then (19C) a costermonger’s boy attendant

villain (14C from Latin via Old French) a worker on a country estate (in feudal terms the lord was the great landowner, and under him were a host of tenants called villains; the notion of wickedness and worthlessness is simply the effect of aristocratic pride and exclusivity)

BUNTING TIME

Matters of love

After your fling,

watch for the sting

(1917)

The beginning of love is often physical. In hiphop male attractiveness is described as pimp-juice and its female counterpart as milkshake, contemporary versions of a long tradition:

bobbant (Wiltshire) of a girl: forward, romping

featous (mid 14C) of a man: handsome, good looking

clipsome (1816) eminently embraceable

DISCO JUDGES

Women have long known just how critical others can be of their looks, whether they be English country folk or American teenagers:

sinful-ordinary (Wiltshire) plain to the last degree in looks

bridlegged (Cheshire) a farmer’s contemptuous description of a woman as having legs not strong enough to work on the farm

sphinx (US black teen slang) a woman who is beautiful from the neck up

Medusa (US black teen slang) a woman who is beautiful from the neck down

strobe-light honey (US black teen slang) a woman who seems attractive in flickering light but not otherwise

ZEPPELINS

One aspect in particular often receives close attention:

bathycolpian (1825) having a deep cleavage

headlamps (UK slang early 20C) female breasts: this was when large, raised car headlights were the norm (a century earlier the common expression was barges)

dead heat in a Zeppelin race (UK slang) an admiring description of large breasts

fore-buttocks (Pope: The Dunciad 1727) breasts

Cupid’s kettledrums (18C) breasts

SUPERSIZE ME

So how do you get your feelings across? Do fries go with that shake? was a phrase called out by