Slang of the 30s Abercrombie A know-it-all Abyssinia I'll be seeing you Aces, snazzy, hot, nobby, smooth, sweet, swell, keen, cool Very good All the way Chocolate cake or fudge with ice cream All wet No good Ameche, horn, blower Telephone Apple Any big town or city Babe, broad, dame, doll, frail, twist, muffin, kitten Woman Baby Glass of milk Bean shooter, gat, rod, roscoe, heater, convincer Gun Beat Broke Behind the grind Behind in one's studies Big house, hoosegow Prison Bleed to extort or blackmail Blinkers, lamps, pies, shutters, peepers Eyes Blow your wig Become very excited Booze, hooch, giggle juice, mule Whiskey Brodie A mistake Brunos, goons, hatchetmen, torpedoes, trigger men Hired gunmen and other tough guys Bulge Having the advantage Bumping gums, booshwash Talk about nothing useful Butter and egg fly, hot mama, sweet mama, sweet patootie, dish, looker, tomato An attractive woman Butter and egg man The money man, the man with the bankroll Buzzer Police badge Cabbage, lettuce, kale, folding green, long green. color of money Cadillac One ounce packet of cocaine or heroin Canary A female vocalist Cats or alligators Fans of swing music Cave One's house or apartment Check or checker A dollar Chicago overcoat Coffin Chicago typewriter, chopper, gat "Tommy Gun", Thompson Submachine Gun Chisel Swindle, cheat, work an angle Cinder dick Railroad detective City juice, dog soup Glass of water Clam-bake Wild swing Clip joint Night club or gambling joint where patrons get flimflammed Copper Policeman Crumb A fink, a loser by social standards Crust To insult Curve Disappointment Cute as a bug's ear Very cute Dead hoofer or cement mixer Bad dancer Dick, shamus, gumshoe, flatfoot Detective Dig Think hard or understand Dil-ya-ble A phone call Dingy Silly Dizzy with a dame Very much in love with a woman, sometimes at great risk to themselves, especially if she's someone else's moll Dog house String bass Doggy Well dressed but in a self conscious way Dollface Name for a woman when a man is pleading his case or apologizing Doss Sleep Drilling, plugging, throwing lead, filling someone with daylight, giving someone lead poisoning Shooting a gun (at someone) Drumsticks, pins, pillars, stems, uprights, get away sticks, gams Legs Dukes, paws, grabbers, meat hooks hands Egg A crude person Egg harbor Free dance Eggs in coffee Run smoothly Evil In a bad mood Face A Caucasian Fem, filly, flame, flirt, fuss Constant girl companion to a boy Five spot, a Lincoln $5 bill Genius An extremely, unbelievably, dumb persons Gin mill Place that serves liquor, sometimes illegally G-man Federal agent, term coined by Machine Gun Kelly Gobble-pipe Saxophone Golddigger Attractive young woman actively hunting for a rich man Greaseball, half portion, wet smack, wet sock, jelly bean Unpopular person Grifter A con man or woman Gumming the works To cause something to run less smoothly Gunsel Gunman with a hint toward being a reckless loose cannon or young homosexual (insult) Hard boiled Tough Hocks, plates Feet Honey cooler A kiss Hop, rag, jolly up, romp, wingding Dance or party Hotsquat Electric chair House dick, house peeper House detective Joe A average guy Joed Tired Juicy Enjoyable K balling Salvaging parts from junked rail cars to rebuild others Keen Very Good Kibosh Squelch Kippy Neat Low down All the information Lunger Someone with tuberculosis Make tracks, dangle Leave in a hurry, leave aburptly Meat wagon Ambulance Micky, Micky Finn Drink spiked with a knock out drugs Mitt me kid! Congratulate me Moll A gangster's girlfriend Murder! Wow! Nuts! Telling someone they are full of nonsense Okie Migrant worker from Oklahoma Off the cob Corny Packing heat, wearing iron Carrying a gun Pally Friend, chum, sometimes used sarcasticly Patsy Innocent man framed for a criminal charge Pill Disagreeable person Pip Attractive person Pitching woo, making whoopee Making love Platter A record Plenty rugged Big and strong Pachuco Young Mexican living in the US Ring-a-ding-ding A good time at a party Rot gut, bathtub gin Prohibition alcohol usually made in back rooms and of low quality Sawbuck $10 bill Scat singer A vocalist who improvises lyrics, substituting nonsense syllables for words Scrub Poor student Shake a leg Hurry up Skin tickler A drummer Slugburger Adding day-old bread to ground beef. Slip me five Shake my hand Smooth Well dressed without qualification Snipe Cigarette Sourdough Conterfeit money Speakeasy Bar disguised as something else or hidden behind an unmarked door Squat Nothing Stool pigeon, snitch Someone who informs to the police Suds, salad, dough, moolah, rhino, bacon (as in bring home the bacon), bread Money Take a powder, blow, split, scram, drift Leave Taking the rap, taking the fall Taking responsibility for someone else's crime or crimes The high hat A response in which one excludes another with irreverence and intent to offend The kiss off The final goodbye as in exile or death Tin Small change Tin can, flivver A car Tin ear, Ickie Someone who did not like popular music Togged to the bricks Dressed up Trip for biscuits A task that yields nothing Twit Fool or Idiot Whacky Crazy What's your story, morning glory? What do you mean by that? Wheat Person unused to city ways Yo! Yes You and me both I agree "You shred it, wheat" You said it