Monday, May 30, 2011

The Vocabluary of a Car Thief, 1930

Hi folks -- there are a number of sources that describe the various words taht car thieves used in the past. What follows is taken from a 1930 paper on the subject, that I found sort of amusing.


Automobile Thieves Vocabulary

Bent -- stolen

Bent one -- a stolen car.

B.I. -- a Buick.

Breezer -- an open car; a touring car.

Caddy -- a Cadillac.

Clean one -- a motor car from which thieves have (or think they have) erased all identifying numbers.

Consent job -- an automobile stolen with the consent of the owner, who will collect insurance and not prosecute the thieves.

Coop -- a coupe'.

Dauber -- a motor-car painter who does hurried jobs for thieves.

Dog-house -- a small garage rented from a householder in a residence district, used for the safe storing of a stolen car for a few days till it can be disposed of.

Ducker -- a Dodge car.

Front room -- a sedan or limousine.

Golfer -- the same as a Caddy.

Gravy -- easy profit.

Hit one -- a car stolen within the previous twenty four hours, the loss of which has perhaps been reported to the police.

Hudson pup. -- an Essex car.

Kinky, adj. -- stolen. The same as bent.

Kinky, noun. -- a stolen car. The same as bent one.

Overnight job -- a car stolen from the previous evening and probably not yet reported to the police as lost.

Owners job-- the same as consent job.

Papa -- a Lincoln car.

Right Guy -- a dealer who buys stolen cars.

Send to school -- send to the state penitentiary.

Shed -- a closed car.

Slicker -- a stolen car newly painted.

Smacker -- a dollar.

Spider -- a Ford car.

Stranger -- a car stolen at some distant point.

Studie -- a Studebaker car.

A proverb -- Never steal anything you can't sell right away.[1]



[1] Atcheson L. Hench, "From the Vocabulary of Automobile Thieves," American Speech, 5(February, 1930), 236-7.

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