The New Slang

A few superlative expressions for nefarious characters, pleasant situations and other possibilities, from  American Tramp and Underworld Slang: Words and Phrases Used by Hoboes, Tramps, Migratory Workers and Those on the Fringes of Society, With Their Uses and Origins, With a Number of Tramp Songs; edited with Essays on the Slang and the Songs by Godfrey Irwin; With a Terminal Essay on American Slang in its Relation to English Thieves' Slang by Eric Partridge:

[Or, quite possibly my favorite possession]

BLOWED IN THE GLASS. -- Genuine; to be trusted. From the old time liquor bottles and other containers, which had the name of the maker or the product blown in the glass to insure the quality. A "blowed in the glass stiff," then, is one who never works, one in the know, and able to take care of himself in any situation.

CLOTHES-LINE. -- Neighbourhood gossip, from the backyard chat between housewives while hanging out the wash.

CURVE. -- A beautiful woman, which in a tramp's eyes means one with a deal of form and substance.

FALL TOGS. -- Clothing especially selected by a criminal or his by his lawyer to give him a good appearance on trial and so possibly influence the jury or judges in his favour.

GRABBING SCENERY. -- Looking from a box car or other place of concealment on a train, a procedure which, marking the inexperienced tramp, is frowned upon by the older, wiser ones, since it is likely to lead to detection and a consequent "ditching" by the train men.

OPEN WORK. -- Safe-blowing.

PIGEON JOINT. -- A store where burglars' tools may be purchased, or a resort specializing in the supply of such instruments. Perhaps from the old cant word, "pigeon," as indicating either a special class of sharper or more generally, a dupe, although the word is never used in the latter of the two senses in modern criminal argot.

PIVOT. -- To solicit for immoral purposes. Of obscure origin.

SINGLE O. -- One working a lone "game" or "racket." One travelling alone by preference.

STRIDES. -- Trousers. From England, where used at least as early as 1900.

THE EX. -- Any exclusive privilege granted by a carnival or circus; the right to sell sandwiches, soft drinks or tobacco, to gamble, or even with a crooked show, to pick pockets.

TUMBLINGS AND BLANKETS. -- Tobacco and papers for cigarettes.