Blacklist: words we say for nothing without knowing their origins

© Provided by: Woman's Day
Spoiler alert: they're from the vocabulary of criminals. And some of them have managed to take root in your vocabulary.

It is impossible to imagine a rich Russian language without slang expressions, words or phrases that are used by certain groups of speakers. For example, every fan of computer games will easily answer what "respawn" (the return of a character to life after he has been killed) is. And from the army lingo in everyday life moved the word "salaga".

It's no secret that criminals also have their own jargon. Moreover, many expressions are familiar to us, and some have even become customary. If you know what a "nerd's nerd" is, but you've never heard of "pahan" or "cormorant," prepare for a little literacy. We tell you about the vocabulary of criminals you shouldn't use.

© a still from the movie "Air Jail" criminal words, criminal lingo

On the status of a thief.

By nature, a significant portion of prison tattoo abbreviations, if deciphered, turn into statements of rather sentimental and naive content. More often than not, abbreviation words are taken for such conventions, the meaning of which has nothing at all to do with life as a thief or being incarcerated.

A large number of criminal tattoos-abbreviations are intended to denote the convict's respectful attitude towards thieves' concepts. For example, ALLUR ("I love Anarchy with Love - with Joy"), BOSS "Was Convicted by the Soviet Court"), GOD ("I Will Rob Again", "Be Careful - Robber", there are other variants), VORON ("Thief, He Was Born with One Hate"), USORV ("The Snitch Will Die by the Hand of Thief"), JOK ("I Wish Lucky Stealing") and many others.

History of Thieves' Jargon

Criminal jargon has several purposes: first, thanks to the "fen" members of the criminal community can separate themselves from society and oppose themselves to law-abiding citizens. An equally important purpose of the jargon is to confuse the outside listener, because the meaning of the prisoners' conversation for him becomes absolutely incomprehensible. Thieves' jargon reflects the hierarchy of the criminal world: authority figures hear respectful expressions in their address, but those who have not managed to rise to the top of the hierarchy are the bearers of insulting nicknames.

Jargon originated a long time ago: around the 19th century, criminals borrowed the argot used by vagrant Ophen merchants - thus the familiar name "fenya" appeared. Thieves' slang contains words from Yiddish (a Jewish language of the Germanic group), borrowings from Ukrainian and other languages. The special language of the penal colonies was made famous by writers in the 1930s and 1950s: Dmitry Likhachev and Alexander Solzhenitsyn used it in their writings. As a result, many words from the thieves' slang made their way not only into spoken, but also into the literary Russian language.

On the attitude towards the police and the camp administration

It is considered especially chic to make a tattoo with an abbreviation that contains an insulting or at least pejorative phrase in relation to the "cops" ("garbage men") or "nephews" (camp (prison) authorities. Or expressing a prisoner's position on being incarcerated in principle, such as the famous SAR tattoo ("Freedom is Heaven").

Such tattoos contain the following abbreviations: VUZ ("Eternal Prisoner of the Zone"), JOHN ("Only Misfortunes Wait at Home"), ZEK ("There is a Convoy Here"), CAT ("Convict"; incidentally, this is probably one of the few prison tattoos, if not the only one, that convicts since the Decembrist era were first made not by prisoners, but by their jailers). Soviet "radical" convicts liked to stab themselves with the abbreviation MIR ("I will be corrected by firing squad").

Words that have become customary for us

Often, when speaking, we do not think where this or that word came from in our language. But many of the expressions that have become commonplace for us, appeared in the lexicon of it came from the thieves' slang. Here are the most common variants.

"Pont".

In the Argo, the term had several interpretations: a distraction; an action performed for show; a showy luxury. The word "pont" became popular in pre-revolutionary times. In the 2000s, it spread among young people, as a description of something too pretentious. By the way, "pont" was once called the victim of a hustler, a thief's trick to help divert her attention.

"Kent."

If asked what "kent" means, most would answer "close friend" or "comrade." But few people think that in a thief's environment "Kent" is called an accomplice to a crime or someone who adheres to criminal notions.

© frame from the film "Air Jail" the words of criminals, criminal lingo

"Mower."

Why did a thousand rubles turn into a "mower"?

"The word 'mower' has several meanings. A mower is a person who mows plants, as well as a knife that is made from part of a scythe. In the Middle Ages it was also called a weapon with a blade of two blades. And in thieves' slang, the word means a thousand units of money in Russian or foreign currency," reports the author of the portal Kultura.rf.

The term appeared in the jargon in the twentieth century, when the State Credit Ticket in the denomination of one thousand rubles was issued. The number, located on the edges, was at an angle of 45°. The banknote was first nicknamed "oblique", and then the customary "slash".

"Six."

Today a "six" is called a person who serves someone without question. In prison, a six is someone who serves thieves. The name comes from the youngest card in the deck - this symbolism is quite understandable.

Don't talk about love - it's written all over it.

The naive sentimentality in the love prison abbreviations-tattoos is just off the charts - a peculiar designation of "floods of feelings" in prison tattoos is very common. A few letters express love, hatred, passion, and other violent manifestations of intersex relations. The principle of choosing words for abbreviations is similar - most often the original meaning of the source is not important (it in most cases has nothing to do with the decoded phrase) - the main thing is that each letter serves as the beginning of the desired word.

For example, the name of the German capital BERLIN in criminal slang is deciphered as "I Will Be Jealous, Love And Hate Her," and the economic term LOT - "I Love One (One - for women) You. In love abbreviations there can be just a set of letters, such as VIMBL ("Come Back and I'll Feel Better"), DMNTP ("No More Beautiful for Me"), CLOT ("I Vow to Love One You"), etc.

Convicted women also enjoyed getting tattoos and in the Soviet Union it was more common than today. As with men, an abbreviation tattoo was most often accompanied by some kind of drawing. For example, Shampagne ("A Joke, Or Maybe Just a Hell of a Mockery, Tell Me How to Rate It?") was juxtaposed with an image of a laughing woman; a tattoo of a professional prostitute and yacht thief ("I Want You") also framed a kind of feminine image. Many of the abbreviated tattoos that prostitutes and other female criminals tattooed had obscene, profane connotations and the drawings that accompanied them were of a pornographic nature.

А
AA - angel of hell. AGMD - Adolf Hitler is my friend. ALENKA - but you have to love her like an angel. ALLUR - I love anarchy with a young love - joyfully. AMUR - TNMN - my angel left early - so my misfortunes began. ARBAT - and Russia was, and now?

Б

BARS - beat the activists, cut the boughs; beat the activists, cut the snitches. BERLIN - I will be jealous of her, love her and hate her. BES - beat her if you can. BJSR! - beat the kikes, save Russia? BLITZS - cherish love and value freedom. GOD - God will absolve sins; was condemned by the state; afraid to stay hungry; will rob again; be careful, robber; fear the fire, you creeps. GOD - I will be one proud and enjoy myself. BOMBIZ - God-protected, prayer-living, and stranded. BONS - was condemned by the people's sul. BOSS - was condemned by a Soviet court; was condemned by the Soviet Union. BOTH - will henceforth be yours forever.

В

VERMOUT - come back if separation is already tormenting you. WIMBL - come back and make me feel better. VINO - come back and stay forever. VNTSH

A thief does not trade his honor. WOLF - that's what love is like; a thief's breathlessness (panting) is a frog's cap; the will loves a colonist. VOR - leader of the October Revolution. VORON - a thief - he was born with one hate. WOSK

will weaken - soon the end; here it is, freedom, colonists. VOICE - eternal prisoner of the zone; I'll die a merry convict.

Г

HORN - the state condemned (to) slavery forever. GOTT - proud of you alone; ready to give myself only to you. GUSI - Where I see it, I'll rape it. GUTOLIST - my lips are tired of talking about love and intense longing.

Д

DERPN - dare, f..., cut up party spongers. JOHN - there's nothing but misery waiting at home; souls of Jews, they're misery. JOHN - nothing but misery awaits at home - the whims of an alcoholic. DISSICK - crush the yids, sexpots, bitches and communists. DMNTP - there's no one more beautiful to me than you. DON - give us some rest, give us some breathing room.

Е

EVA - f... the whole asset. EUROPE

if a thief works - he is a fallen prisoner. YEAR - his (her) caresses seem fragrant, if love is insidious - atas.

Ж

GERN - life is a slave's captivity. JNPSM - I live in a dump, save me. JNSSS - life will teach you to laugh through your tears. GHWM - asshole is one - you are many (applied forcibly). ZHUK - I wish you lucky thefts; life was stolen (shortened) by the communists. ZHUR! - live a luxurious life, you bourgeois!

З

CALLER - know thieves - they will teach you very cool. ZEK - there is a convoy here. Evil - a convict likes to rest, a covenant of his beloved father; knew love once, for all the cops will avenge. Evil O - for all things to the cops I will avenge very painfully. ZmeYA - why a man - there's me. STUD - here they teach how to fight. ZUB! - great, blatant cops! ZUBR - the wicked urki keep the slaves safe.

И

IRA - go to smash, cut activists (the acronym is rare). IRA - go to cut the activists, go to cut the activists. IRAK

I'm going to cut up communist activists. IRIS

Both slave and snitch (applied by force). IRCA-ENTER - and separation seems like hell - if you're not around.

К

KAT - a hard labor convict; a convict. KENT - when a f..., one must endure. KISBT - how my heart is longing for you. KLEN - swear to love him (her) forever. CLIN - when you love, punish treason. CLEN - how I love and hate - God only knows about (it). CLOT - swear to love one (alone) you; when you love, bear grudges. COMS? - How painful it is to be alone, do you hear? COSUM - when happiness smiles on me again. KOTH - the native inhabitant of the prison; how hard it is to be alone; who will warm the longing. CROSS - how to unloving, if the heart is longing. KTYABNN - like you I'll never find again. CUB? - who will die sooner? CUBA - when you're gone, it hurts like hell. KYASOD? - how I miss home? how I miss my children!

Л

LBJ - to love more than life. LBJ - I will love her even if she cheats. LEFT - I will love her even if she leaves forever. LEFT - love her forever; love e... fun; kicking e... fun. LADY - I love her even if she cheats. LEFT - love her dearly. SUMMER - love her only one. LEMON - to love and suffer alone is boring. LIRA - love and separation, love and cut. LIS - love and death. LIST - love and longing a lot. LYA - love and me. LOM - love me alone, love, let me go. LON - I love the society of drug addicts. LORA - love once gave birth to an angel, love bypassed a slave-prisoner. LORD - the cops will avenge their own children, love is given once, camp eagles make friends happy, love, father, native children, love one home. LOT - I love thee alone; thou art very curious. LOTOS - love one (one) you very much. LSD - love is expensive. LSCHW - love freedom like a seagull loves water. LTV - love comrade, the will, love only the will; love you forever; love only the free; love to steal quietly. LUCH - a loved one has gone away. LUBE - the love of youth was angelic.

М

MAG - my Adolf Hitler. MAGNIT - sweetheart, and my eyes are relentlessly searching for you. MD - my sweet fool. MEL - my one and only love. MJWA - I've been waiting for a long time in hell. PEACE - I will be reformed by firing squad. MNSHS - I'm not ashamed of myself. SILENCE - my obsessive love (and) feelings are dead. MORS - we're breaking up happy again. MTC-N - cops are stupid assholes of the people. MTC - cops are dumb bastards.

Н

HEAVY - don't (be sad) if you're alone. H-HEAVY-ZYAVR - don't (be) sad if you're alone, know that I'm always there for you. NIL - you can't cheat on the people you love. NINA - not (was) and not (will be) an activist. NINS - can never cheat.

О

OMUT - my only comfort is you, it's hard to get away from me. OPLNZ - an eagle of the skies I fly above the earth. ORWEA - The October Revolution is the greatest Jewish adventure. OSA - leave death to the activists. OSMN - stay with me forever. OST - I'll be yours again. ISLAND - stay with (me), your joyful island in (me); a desperate passion yearns for a bloated fire in (me).

П

PAPA - f...t...s...to the activists, hello to the anarchists. PVA - I despise your activism. PWRS - let the slaves of Sovdepia do their work. PES - I didn't listen to her very well. BEER - sorry and come back. PILOT - remember and love one (one) you, remember, love one (one) you. PINGWIN - sorry and don't be sad, no need to look for someone to blame. PIPLE - first and last love. POST - remember about (me) - I hate you, Judas. POST - forgive me, father, it's my fate. GOVERNMENT - the government has decided to arrest everyone and deny amnesty. RDMVSNN

born to torment - I don't need happiness. RHYTHM - joy and longing are mine. ROKZISM - Russia is drenched in the blood of convicts and the tears of mothers. ROST - orphaned early by a tyrant, joy alone - to shoot tyrants.

С

SAPER - happy prisoner - after his execution. SATURN - hear you, and you're already impossible to dislike. SWAT? - freedom will return, and you? LIGHT - passion is exhausted - if anxious. SGV - Northern Group of Forces - army tattoo). SEPTEMBER - tell me if you need to, I'll be there for you. SLICHWR - death to cops and Chekists, life to recidivist thieves. SLJB - Death to cops, life to blatnoys. SLZHN - death to the cops - no life. SLON - with one lover for ever; death to cops from a knife, from (young) years one misfortune, the heart loves one for ever, bitches love one boss. SNOW - strongly like the only eyes. SON - with (me) one unhappiness; happiness bypasses the unhappy; the most mischievous sass. SON-VH - most mischievous sass - always wanting. SOS (505) - saved from judgment; saved from bitches; saved from syphilis; bitches have taken away freedom; save, father, son. SS (55) - saved conscience. SS-KGB - sons of bitches - a bunch of state thugs. SS-MM - super-sex - my dream; super-sexers - I can (piss) silently. SP - death to shoulder straps. SPV - glory to the fallen thieves. STONE - one misfortune with you; happiness sinks from the impure; the heart needs you alone. STOP - happiness to the one (from whom) benefit. DARK - manage to keep my sweetheart safe, if separation is like a trial. CHUCK - bitches are often activists. SIR - freedom is paradise.

Т

TENIS - you are - tenderness and tears. TIGR - prison is a toy; you, a traitor, are ready to be torn apart; comrades, let's go rob a restaurant. TIN - you or no one. TIND - you or no one. TMJ - prison gets in the way of life. TMON - I really like you. TOBOL - you alone are sick with cold love. TOMSK. - you alone have touched my heart. TOHIS - you are very good and glorious. TROON - you are joy alone forever. TOOZ - prison is our fun; prison teaches the law; prison is already familiar; prisoner in prison. TUZ - S S - you already know - super sex. TUMR - the taiga will shelter me, dear one.

У

UZ: VUEC - prisoner of the zones: Vorkuta, Urals, Siberia, Kolyma. UTRO - left by the path of my own father.

Х

Bread - my only love I'll keep. Christ cherishes the poor. HMBIS - God and fate keep me. CHRISTOS? - you want me to give you joys and tears, do you hear? HTKPT - dick to whoever invented prison. CLIBIS - value love and cherish true freedom. CMOS - my end justifies the means.

Ш

SHA! - sha, prisoner! CHAMPIONSHIP? - a joke, or maybe just a hell of a mockery, tell me how to appreciate it? SHPDZM! - shali, kid, but know the measure?

Э

EVZHMS? -The elixir of eternal female youth - sperm? ELECTRON - This love alone you kindled will remain forever. EPRON - Eroth, give joy to one insatiable. ETAP - an excursion of taiga prisoners. ECHO! - EROT, I want to give myself! eh, it would be good (would be) to get drunk! that's enough for one!

Ю

YW - VTC - young inmate - educative labor colony. YUA - young friend of Adolf. JUV - young friend of thieves. JH - young robber; southern robber; young thug; young touring man.

Я

YABLO - I will love one, as I promised. JAVA - I vu... asset. JWTPK - I'll drink you down a drop at a time. YAD - I will heal YAD - I give joy one day. YALTA - I love you, angel. JANINE - I've been taught treason forever. JANNA - I hope for amnesty. YANPTS - I am not a corrupt scum of the scoop. JAPAN? - I will forgive offense, not treason, okay?; I will forgive offense, not treason, okay? JR - I - have made up my mind. JAR - I've decided to fight. YARDS - I was born to be happy. YARMO - I was born to suffer alone. JARSSSSVD - I ate my conscience with snot as a child. YAHONT - I want one (alone) forever you. YAHONT - I want you. YAHOTT - I want you, angel. YAHTT - I want only you.

Initial abbreviations.

The first type of abbreviation in this group is a letter abbreviation that reads as the letters are named in the alphabet.

Examples: AA for "angel of hell," PVA for "I despise your asset."

The second type of abbreviation is a sound abbreviation. It is acrophonetic. The principle of its construction is that it also takes the first letters of the constituent words, but they are not read alphabetically, but as a single word.

Examples: HORN - "the state condemned (to) slaves forever", DNO - "give us some rest", "give us some breathing room".

The alphabetic-sounding abbreviation combines the two listed above. That is, it includes both alphabetic names of letters and their fusions into words. Such abbreviations are not represented in prison jargon.

A special group is created by bacronyms. These are abbreviations that are created by an already existing abbreviation. There are many such examples among prison abbreviations. Example: GOD, CAT, CROSS, LEFT, SUMMER, SKY, PAPA, LIGHT.

There are also recursive abbreviations. These are the type of abbreviations that include not only the words but also the abbreviation itself in their decoding. For clarity, here is an example: PHP - PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. There are no recursive abbreviations in prison abbreviations.

What style to get a tattoo with an Ace

Wax drawings with cards always look spectacular and unusual. Sometimes one chooses a drawing of a card with a particular suit, and sometimes one prefers a tattoo of 4 aces.

And the first and second option will look equally spectacular in the style of oldskul. Such a tattoo will be spectacular and colorful.

No less original will look tattoo in the style of graphics. Such images most often choose the supporters of minimalism.

If you like to walk through life freely and not follow stereotypes, make a tattoo with an ace and other interesting elements. These can be skulls, jesters and more.

Ace tattoos are done on different parts of the body - leg, arm, back, forearm, neck, wrist.

Syllabic abbreviations

Another large group are syllabic abbreviations. Prison abbreviations don't really occur in this type, but you still need to consider this point for general understanding. There are several ways to get syllabic abbreviations:

  1. Combining the beginning parts of two or more words: department store - department store.
  2. Combine the beginning of one word and another word from the whole word combination: terrorist attack - an act of terrorism.
  3. Combine the initial part of a word with the indirect case form of a noun: head of the department - head of the department.

The beginning of the first word and the beginning and the end of the second / end of the second word are joined: moped - mot(tocycle)+(veloci)ped.

The meaning of prison abbreviations

Prison abbreviations and their meaning can be classified into several groups. For example, there are abbreviations that tell about the inmate's attitude toward the country, government, and politics:

Some abbreviations touch on certain values that are important to the entire declawed society or to an individual member of it (love, family, freedom, honor, etc.):

There is also still a group of abbreviations that directly refer to the state, to the judicial process, to the territorial location of the imprisoned person, etc. For example: HORN - "the state condemned (to) slaves forever." This can also include the aforementioned abbreviations SLON and BOSS.

Prison tattoos and abbreviations

There is an opinion that prisoners began to make tattoos of their own free will and for internal reasons. But this is not entirely correct. The Russian government itself gave the impetus to the development of prison tattoos. Abbreviations, images - all of these were subsequently put on their bodies by the prisoners. And before that, the state branded those lawbreakers who were lifelong Siberian convicts. Over time, the tattoos changed their meaning and essence. They became a sort of passport, a business card of each prisoner.

Nakolki told about the belonging to the declassified society, about the place of their bearer in the hierarchy of the underworld. There are no prison tattoos, not endowed with a special meaning. Each of them describes a certain status and specialization of a person in the criminal world. Nakolki include a variety of images and abbreviations. Prison abbreviations are a huge number, and we will look at the most famous ones.

Nature

For women

For men