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RARA-AVIS: Hardboiled slang, and Chicago overcoats
I got some mail yesterday from someone (an alt.folklore.urban reader)
who is trying to nail down "cement shoes" and "Chicago overcoat." We
all know what cement shoes are - having your feet encased in cement,
which is followed by being dumped in the river. A Chicago overcoat, I
think, is something pretty similar - maybe being tossed into a big
block of cement and thrown in the river, or being made a part of a
building (as happens in the movie _Robin and the Seven Hoods_, a
Sinatra Rat Pack movie).
Does anyone know a precise meaning for "Chicago overcoat"? Does
anyone know of any cases of this actually happening? Has anyone seen
it in any books outside of _The Big Sleep_?
The fellow also wondered about the relationship between the people who
spoke this kind of slang and the writers. I think there was a lot of
cross-pollination: writers would pick up things from the street, and
hoods wanted to act tough. (Apparently the gangsters in Russia these
days wear pinstriped suits and look right out of a George Raft movie.)
Has anyone studied hardboiled slang, or read a good look at it? I'd
be interested in knowing if some of the terms we know now, or think we
know, were actually invented by writers.
On a related note, what's the story behind "gooseberry lay"? This was
used in _The Maltese Falcon_, I think, and seemed to mean homosexual
activity. Am I wrong - did it actually mean something fairly
innocuous? I know there was some discussion about this in
rec.arts.mystery a while back, but in switching Internet providers
I seem to have lost the articles I saved.
Bill
--
William Denton : buff@vex.net <-- Please note new address.
Toronto, Canada <-- I'm not at io.org any more.
http://www.vex.net/~buff/ Caveat lector.
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