![]() ![]() He committed a burglary last night and had disposed of the property plundered. A fellow-thief, who shared with me my plunder, called out to me to hand over the stolen property, so, as somebody was observing my maneuvers, I ran away to the house, where I found James had provided something to eat, by stealing some bacon from a shop door. My fancy girl stood near me and screened me from observation. I picked the pocket of a gentleman and lady of a pocket-book and a purse. He told me as Bill had flimped a yack and pinched a swell of a fawney, he sent the yack to church and got three finnuffs and a cooter for the sawney. He cracked a case last night and fenced the swag. A cross-cove, who had his regulars, called out ‘cop bung’, so as a pig was marking, I speeled to the crib, where I found Jim had been pulling down sawney for grub. I buzzed a bloak and a shakester of a reader and a skin. ![]() In terms of the “gratuity” definition, it most likely comes from a popular form of speech among thieves, beggars, and hustlers, called the “Thieves’ Cant” (also sometimes called “Rogues’ Cant”), which arose in Great Britain several hundred years ago with the primary aim of keeping non-thieves and the like from being able to fully understand what the thieves were talking about.Īn example of this kind of talk, taken from The Vulgar Tongue (1857) is as follows: The real origin of the word “tip” is a bit more obscure than that. The word is “colinderies” or “colinda”, an acronym for the Colonial and Indian Exposition held in London in that year. ![]() There is only one known pre-20th-century word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue for only a short time in 1886. In fact, pretty much anytime you’ve ever heard of a word that originated before the 20th century coming from an acronym, you can be almost certain that it isn’t true. You may have heard that the few hundred year old definition of “tip”, as referring to gratuity, comes from “To Insure Promptness” or similar backronyms, but this isn’t correct. Frank Hintz: What is the origin of the word “tip” (as in leaving a tip)? ![]()
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