Share your con-artist theives’ cant with me

March 9, 2025 8:14 AM

Do you know any con-artist theives’ cant? Or resources for it? Like, at the end of Heist, when Gene Hackman says the plan was “cute as a Chinese baby,” and this clearly means something significant to Rebecca Pidgeon’s character, but the actual meaning goes over the audiences head.

Or, there’s always a part in the Ocean’s 11 movies where a character is suggesting scam ideas by name. Everyone in the movie knows what those funny scam names mean, but they’re never explained to the viewer. Or also, in The Sting, when the con-men debate whether or not their mark will know “the wire” scam. All the characters know what this means, while the audience does not (until later when we see the scam take place).

These moments are like a reverse dramatic irony, where the confidence man knows more than the audience, and this tension is super interesting to me. Please share more examples of this type of theives’ cant—in fiction or real life—or resources for learning more of this slang.

posted by Hoenikker to Writing & Language (13 answers total)

Best answer: The Sting was based on the books by David Maurer. They have all the info you are after.
posted by canoehead at 8:25 AM on March 9 [4 favorites]

Each episode of the TV show Leverage is typically based around a particular uniquely named con. No idea how accurate they are, but it's a fun watch if you enjoy heists and con-men.
posted by platinum at 9:15 AM on March 9 [4 favorites]

I’ll bet Jean Genet’s The Thief’s Journal has some.
posted by Lemkin at 10:03 AM on March 9

Best answer: Consulting a copy of "A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew, in its several tribes, of g*****s, beggers, thieves, cheats, &c. with an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches, &c. Ufeful for all forts of People (efpecially Foreigners) to fecure their Money and preferve their Lives; befides very Diverting and Entertaining, being wholly New" by "B.E." (1698), I find:

• Arsworm - a diminutive fellow
• Baste - to beat as, I'll baste your sides Sirrah, I'll bang you lustily.
• Clunch - a clumsy clown an awkward or unhandy fellow.
• Doxies - she-beggars, trulls, wenches, whores . . .
• Ebb-water - when there's but little money in the pocket
• Flapdragon - a clap or pox
• Gape-feed - whatever the gazing crowd stares and gapes after; as puppet-shows, rope-dancers, monsters, and mountebanks.
• Hector - a vaporing, swaggering coward
• Yarmouth capon - a red herring
• Zany - a mountebank's Merry-Andrew, or Jester

All on the Internet Archive.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:24 AM on March 9 [3 favorites]

It has been quite a while since I saw The Grifters, but I'm pretty sure it uses plenty of con-artist lingo.
posted by adamrice at 11:25 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Jim Thompson's The Grifters has some examples of this, like "the twenties" — basically getting a clerk to break a twenty then bamboozling them into giving you back the original bill in addition to the change. Unsure if the movie version has the same, although I do remember John Cusack's character doing a folded money substitution trick at a bar. Thompson also sometimes drops terms before explaining them, which also speaks to what you're looking for I think. (was composing this while adamrice posted!)
posted by felix grundy at 11:39 AM on March 9

Wkipedia's list of scams seems like something you might want to check out.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:05 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

The UK show "Hustle" has tons of those. Some classics from the list of scams linked above and some the writers invented.
posted by mmoncur at 3:11 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: This Quora question about the Ocean’s movies slang has some fairly convincing explanations for exactly the type of slang I’m looking for. This question seems to be quoted numerous times, all over the Internet, so I’m a little embarrassed I only found it after posting this ask.

Going looking for Maurer’s books this afternoon, and adding Leverage to my viewing list. Love that deep pull Bob, going to save those terms for a D&D campaign. It’s been a minute since I saw The Grifters too, but that movie is a joy and I should rewatch. AE, several wiki rabbit holes have lead me to that beautiful list, but its language is not quite a playful as I’m looking for.
posted by Hoenikker at 6:49 AM on March 10

While you're on Mamet movies in which Rebecca Pidgeon is delightfully non-human in her line readings, "The Spanish Prisoner" is never mentioned in The Spanish Prisoner but it's the name of the con that puts the plot in motion, so perhaps audiences wonder "why is this movie without a prisoner from Spain or elsewhere called that?"
posted by less-of-course at 6:50 AM on March 10

Highly recommend White Collar tv show. It was on USA network, and is currently on Netfilx. Lots of con-man slang and you get to see Willie Garson in a great role. Most episodes are short hustles and the seasons have a long hustle going through it.
posted by hydra77 at 7:18 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I've recommended this 2014 book by Aaron Skirboll: The Thief-Taker Hangings: How Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Wild, and Jack Sheppard Captivated London and Created the Celebrity Criminal, which has a lot of interesting things to say about 18th century burglary crime rings and a related side business in betraying associates to the law.

Their version of Thieves Cant was a constructed vocabulary specifically designed to be a plausible excuse when quoted under oath in a court of law, by paid eavesdroppers in pubs listening to burglars hiring accomplices.

For starters, Jonathan Wild's Wikipedia article is a fun read.
posted by ovvl at 8:51 AM on March 10

https://jackshalom.net/tag/ricky-jay/
has a bunch of blog posts with Ricky Jay; my understanding is Ricky Jay was the con man's academician and the academician's con man. It may not be exactly what you asked about but it's in the ballpark.
posted by adekllny at 9:57 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]