In the history of mankind with its diversity of cultural trends, there have always been certain layers of people who, in their behavior and value orientations, do not fit into the general standard and are carriers of traditions that go beyond generally accepted norms, but have an impact on the life of society. In Russia, a vivid example of this is the prison subculture, which brought numerous prison phrases into the life of law-abiding citizens, which became the basis of slang that is widespread today.

Thieves' Jargon - Descendant of the Merchants' Language

Since thieves prison phrases are part of the Russian language (whether we like it or not), they also came into the field of view of researchers, like all other elements that make it up. Scientists began a serious study of this phenomenon back in the 19th century and established interesting fact. It turned out that the thieves' jargon not only has a connection with the secret language of Russian merchants, but is also its product. Even its very name - "fenya", comes from a completely innocent word "ofenya", which means itinerant merchant, peddler.

It is believed that the reason for creating a secret language lies in the desire to hide from prying ears everything related to trade secrets - sources of obtaining goods, purchase prices, sales plans, and much more. But here the path begins, leading from the honest merchant's shop to the thieves' den. The fact is that the merchants themselves called themselves "obzetilnik", and, apparently, for a reason - the verb "obzetit" in their language meant deceive, fool. Obviously, the secret language also served to exchange information about where and how to commit fraud.

"Fenya" - a sign of belonging to the thieves' world

However, many serious researchers, among them Academician D.S. Likhachev, were of the opinion that prison phrases could hardly serve as a reliable means of conspiracy. Specific thieves' speech is more likely to betray the attacker than to hide his intentions. In addition, although it is saturated with characteristic slang expressions, it is not so much as to be incomprehensible to others. It would be more correct to assume that the purpose of "fenya" is to expose "one's own" in the thief and, along with other signs: the manner of dressing, gait, tattoos, gestures, and so on, to emphasize his belonging to the criminal world.

Another reason why prison jargon, expressions, phrases and other characteristic elements of speech cannot be used for conspiracy is their easy assimilation by others. For example, workers law enforcement, that is, it is precisely those from whom secrets must be kept that easily master a specific vocabulary. The same can be said about the servants of the places of detention, and about the prisoners who ended up behind bars, but nevertheless do not belong to the criminal world. Practice shows that thieves' language is the first thing that every new prisoner learns.

Words that survived time

There is an erroneous opinion that characteristic prison phrases disappear from the lexicon of the criminal world and are replaced by new ones as soon as their meaning becomes known to operational workers. This is wrong. Research in this area shows that many elements of jargon have existed for several centuries.

Suffice it to recall the well-known words: goof(gullible fool) shmon(search), money(money), cop(police officer) bazaar(conversation, dispute) and many others. These expressions used today are found in a manual on the study of the language of the criminal world, published even before the revolution, intended for investigators and called “Thieves' Jargon. Blatant music."

Folk speech is the basis of thieves' language

It should also be noted that prison phrases and expressions, for all their outward unattractiveness, often have deep folk roots. Each "urka" - this is how representatives of this social stratum often call themselves, is a native of a particular region, and in his "hair dryer" there are often expressions that are a reflection of language features native area. For example, the Great Russian language enriched "criminal music" with such words taken from the dialects of various regions of Russia as basel(shouting and cursing) cormorant(small, novice thief), botat(speaking in jargon) and so on.

The process of assimilation into the thieves' language of folk expressions became especially active during the period of mass Stalinist repressions, when millions of people ended up in the Gulag. During this period, the thieves "fenya" was subjected to a powerful influence of all kinds of local dialects and dialects. In addition, she absorbed elements of urban slang and various kinds professional jargon. It is also characteristic that the thieves' language, which had undergone significant changes by that time, reflected many of the realities of the world of that time, both at the everyday and at the political level.

Reasons for rooting in the modern language of slang expressions

It is known that from the 1920s to the 1950s, representatives of the most diverse strata of society served long terms in places of detention. Among them were dispossessed peasants, workers, former nobles, military personnel, clergy and many others. All of them, once behind the barbed wire, quickly assimilated the jargon adopted there and introduced various elements of their vocabulary into it. It is generally accepted that it was during this period that “fenya”, due to the changes introduced to it, became the generally accepted language of all prisoners, regardless of their camp status.

Those millions of Gulag prisoners who were lucky enough to be released brought the jargon to freedom, which became an integral part of their vocabulary over the years of imprisonment. Exactly great amount its carriers provided this "thieves music" with a wide influence not only on colloquial, but also on literary language free society.

Jargon as an integral part of modern culture

Thus, in the Soviet Union, in view of its “special path of development”, prison jargon, unique in its expressiveness and linguistic richness, appeared, the phrases and words of which have no analogues in any other language of the world. Being " Babylonian pandemonium"and a mixture of languages, views and ideas about the world, the GULAG - great tragedy people, has become fertile ground for the creation and distribution of thieves Fenya. In its open spaces, she rose to unheard-of heights.

Prison phrases have become an integral part of the Russian language. It is known that many representatives of the intelligentsia, especially the humanities, Stalinist camps, noted in their notes that they involuntarily fell under the influence of this wild and bright element, which became the concentration of genuine folk speech. They quite rightly pointed out that without the vocabulary of this peculiar jargon, the amazing etymology of the words included in it, knowledge of the roots and features, no doubt, not only the Russian language would become impoverished, but also National history and, as a result, culture as a whole.

The origin of some common expressions

Continuing the conversation about the connection between “thieves' music” and dialect vocabulary, as well as analyzing prison phrases and their meaning, it is appropriate, among other things, to recall the very common word in the criminal world mold(blazer). Its etymology is quite interesting. Once upon a time, among wandering pedlars, it meant a painted women's scarf (apparently, from the Slavic word beauty is beauty). It had the same meaning at first among the thieves. It is known that during the long hours of forced idleness, the inmates painted handkerchiefs and sent them home as gifts. But over time, their products got the name stamps(from the word to soil, to soil), and their former name passed to jackets, instead of the previously used word lift.

The comicality of some thieves' expressions

It should be noted that there are quite funny prison phrases and expressions. For example, the uninitiated will be at a dead end when they hear the phrase "coffin with music." It turns out that this is nothing more than an ordinary piano. Or the purely ecclesiastical word "altar", used as judge's table. And it seems quite funny to use the name of the famous French film actor Belmondo in the meaning a very stupid person, a complete fool. In general, prison phrases - cool and not very cool, are often built on the basis of expressions used in ordinary language and giving them a new, sometimes completely unexpected meaning, which makes them comical.

Jewish roots of many blat expressions

Oddly enough, but on the formation of the notorious "criminal music" big influence rendered two Jewish languages ​​- Hebrew and Yiddish. This happened after in pre-revolutionary Russia, as a result of the law on the Jewish Pale of Settlement, places of their compact residence were formed. Ethnic (in this case, Jewish) organized criminal groups were not slow to form in them. Their members communicated with each other in Yiddish or Hebrew - languages ​​​​completely incomprehensible to the police officers, since Jews were not accepted into the service, and, accordingly, there were no interpreters. Over time, these expressions formed a specific prison jargon, the phrases and individual words of which could not be understood by the authorities.

An example is the well-known word shmon (search). It came from the Hebrew shmone (eight), and this is no coincidence. The fact is that in the south of Russia, where Jews often settled and where they had to serve their sentences, searches were carried out in prison cells, according to the established schedule, at eight o'clock in the evening. It was the semantic connection between the action of protection and the time in which it was carried out that gave rise to the expression rooted in the thieves' world.

Another example of borrowing from Hebrew, this time Yiddish, is the word fraer derived from Frej (freedom). It serves to refer to people who have not been in prison and do not have the relevant experience. By the way, the word so used in our life blat(For example, get something for nothing) also comes from Yiddish. It is based on the word Die Blatte - sheet of writing paper or a note. In this case, we mean a note from the right person necessary for arranging cases.

Dictionaries of thieves' expressions

As mentioned above, prison slang - phrases and individual words used in the criminal world, have repeatedly become the subject of research by linguists. This began in the 19th century with the release of slang dictionaries by V.I. Dahl and I.D. Putilin. However, a special surge of public interest in this area of ​​linguistics was provoked by the appearance in 1908 of a dictionary compiled by V.F. Trachtenberg, one of the most famous swindlers of the early 20th century.

This eminent crook became famous for selling to the French government the mines of Morocco, to which he had nothing to do and which he had never seen. Finding himself after numerous and "glorious" adventures in the Taganka prison, he filled free time collecting material for the thieves' dictionary, which included prison jargon - phrases with translation.

After its sensational publication in different times dictionaries of other compilers were also published, but, as even the most superficial acquaintance with them shows, all of them were simply copied from the previous author and given to the publisher with a new signature. So, the dictionary of V. Lebedev, published in the 1920s, is a slightly supplemented edition of Trachtenberg, and the collection of V.M. Popov became a repetition of Lebedev's work. Further S.M. Potapov released his own dictionary, which is no different from Popov's edition. By the way, it was during this period that the foundations of lexicographic plagiarism, which was widely practiced later, were laid.

Thieves' jargon these days

Connoisseurs of modern thug jargon believe that today he is going through hard times. In their opinion, it is steadily degrading. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is called the changed contingent of places of detention. Among those who find themselves behind barbed wire, a large percentage of lumpen - people with an extremely primitive lexicon. Affects and low level development of the criminogenic layer of youth. In general, many are inclined to state the "decline in morals" of the prisoner world.

The editor-in-chief of Mediazona, Sergei Smirnov, after talking with the current inmates, selected 15 prison phrases, in his opinion, allowing one to get an idea of modern Russia. This repeatedly published document sums up the path that Russian thug jargon has traveled over many decades. Leaving aside the question of the objectivity of their reflection modern life, we can say with full confidence that from a phraseological point of view, it undoubtedly testifies to the uninterrupted continuity of the current "feni" and the language of the former inhabitants of places not so remote. This is "without a market"!

This is not quite a dictionary, but not quite a list of "jargon" words, which are so many on the Web. Here are just a few words from the thieves' jargon. Words that have a different meaning in the prison jargon than in the common language are marked with the letter "t", professional slang of employees of the ITU and operational services of the internal affairs bodies (UR, BEP, BOP, NON) - with the letter "s", official terms and abbreviations - the letter "o".


Authority(t) - representative top group V informal hierarchy prisoners.
The informal order operating in the zone is extremely authoritarian in nature, therefore the real situation in the shadow life of the correctional facility, pre-trial detention center or their part (cell, PKT, ShIZO, etc.) is determined personal qualities those in power authorities and having a connection with authorities in the wild or in other institutions, as well as the tactics followed by local employees of operational services. In general colloquial Russian, the word authority is more often used in the sense of "influence", and is contrasted in meaning with the word "power", but does not complement it. Power exists in the space of formal structures, influencing people through a system of statuses, prestige, positions, sanctions. authority most are voluntary.

Authoritative(t) - a prisoner who has a high status in one of two groups (suits) of the informal hierarchy of prisoners: thieves and peasants. It is not used in relation to representatives of such informal groups like goats, devils, lowered.

cant(r) - 1) Violation of the rules, norms of the prison law; 2) The armband of a member of the SPP or other section with the appropriate abbreviation. Most often blue;
3) Unsuccessful action or deed; 4) Cigarettes or cigarettes with marijuana.

Kosyachny(t) - a person who constantly commits acts that are contrary to the norms generally accepted in the community of prisoners.

red zone- a zone where the administration rules with the help of goats and, regardless of prison law, for example, he tries to seat those lowered in the dining room at common tables, demands that prisoners go to the dining room and from the dining room in formation, forbids moving around zone, entrance to other people's barracks, etc.
In such a zone, activists have broad powers and can behave very aggressively, surveillance of each other, denunciation, and petty nitpicking about the behavior and clothes of prisoners are encouraged.

Red(t) - a euphemism for the word goat .

Circle- education wider than family or kentovka; formed most often on the principle of community.

Wing (put on a wing)- a bandage on the sleeve, indicating the entry of the prisoner into assets, i.e., in prison jargon, in goats.

covered(t, s) - Prison-type ITU for those convicted of serious crimes or sent to prison by court order from TIC for systematic violations of the regime of detention.

Xiva(r) - 1) Note, letter. It is transmitted illegally from cell to cell, from camp to camp, from prison to freedom and vice versa. Often contains important information about events and persons, sometimes - indications of authoritative ones. Xiva There are also purely personal content. Permanent communication between camps and prisons scattered throughout the country is carried out using xiv. Synonym - little one, little one;
2) Document, identity card.

Qom(t) - an employee of the operational unit ITU or SIZO.

Kumovskaya Mutka, cum weed- provocations arranged in the zone by operatives to achieve their goals.

Khipezh (kipezh)- unrest, confusion, rebellion, started by prisoners against the administration, or by the administration against prisoners.

Shkvarnoy(t) - the same as lowered.

shkonka, shkonar(t) - bed. In prison - a couch, welded from metal pipes and strips, embedded in the floor; often two- or three-tiered. By number bunk usually judge the size and capacity of the chambers.

Skin- convict jacket.

Skin(r) - denunciation, reporting on another prisoner.

Shmon(t, s) - search.

Shnyr(r) - 1) A prisoner who has taken on (sometimes under pressure from other prisoners) the duty to clean the cell, barracks, industrial premises, to do the work that prisoners are required to do in turn. For this work, he receives from the prisoners themselves a certain payment in food, smoke, money.
2) Prisoners occupying the positions of orderlies (on duty, errands, cleaners) in separate structural divisions ITU (SHIZO, PKT, headquarters, visiting rooms, detachments, etc.). Shnyr counts goat already by position.

bang- to spy in someone's favor, most often in favor of the administration.

Headquarters(c) - the premises of the correctional colony, in which the offices of the colony employees (head, deputies, operational workers, etc.) are located. Often the medical unit is located in the same room.

stage(r) - a room for newly arrived prisoners (etapniks) in the colony, where they are kept in isolation from the rest of the ITU prisoners for several days.

Instruction

The first thing it is desirable to know is that many words that seem innocent to a person far from crime are considered a terrible insult in this environment. Even the word "man" is offensive, if you call a person occupying a higher position in the unwritten prison hierarchy. Men, as they call the main mass of prisoners: the public, who are not noticed in anything discrediting from the point of view of thieves' morality, but do not lead a criminal lifestyle, are considered a respected caste (or, as they say in captivity, "suit") respected, but thieves are higher.
It is even more unacceptable to call “goat”, “” or “rooster” someone who has nothing to do with these “suits”, and “rat” - someone about whom there is no exact information that he steals from his own.

You should also use the word "ask" carefully. In captivity, it has only one thing - punishment for violating unwritten prison norms, called "concepts". In the meaning of “ask a question”, it is preferable to use “to be interested”.
The names of investigative actions and defendants in the criminal case are also prohibited. You cannot call a prisoner a witness, even if he is required to confirm what he saw with his own eyes. In this case, there is the word "witness".
The verb "prove" is also unacceptable. Prove the investigating authorities, the main enemies of the prisoner. He "substantiates", including with the help of "eyewitnesses".

One of the ambushes that an uninitiated person can get into when communicating with representatives of crime is the word “offended” and all its derivatives. For this public, the word "offended" has only one meaning - belonging to the prison caste of untouchables, "roosters", also called "lowered".
Accordingly, to “offend” subject to the ritual of “lowering” (often sodomy, but there are other ways: to make you kiss the toilet bowl (“duchka”, “slop”), to pass the genitals over the lips, to drip sperm on the face, etc.).
Recognizing oneself or calling another “offended” is fraught with irreversible consequences. Therefore, a prisoner who was offended in the generally accepted sense should be said "upset", "upset".

Very narrowly in criminal life is also a "point" - the anus. To name so famous and popular in the underworld card game unacceptable - only "twenty-one".

Special mention should be made of swear words. In dealing with representatives of the underworld, it is better to forget about their existence. This is not easy, especially in the general mode, where the majority do not swear, but speak it, thereby creating problems for themselves.
It will not be easy to “justify” that you mentioned someone's abstract mother, and not the interlocutor, or the promiscuous lady as an interjection, and not his characteristic. For the first time, most likely, they will explain and forgive, but when the incident repeats, they will “ask” in full.

With an interjection on "b", which simultaneously defines a slutty, and derivatives from it in general, you should be especially careful.
Behind bars, “f...” actions are called actions directed against ideology and punishable by death, and “b... dy” are people who commit them.
To determine that an act belongs to this category, only an authoritative criminal who has the status of “Thief” has the right (criminals write this word only with a big one, and this is a status, and not a criminal specialization, who trades in thefts is called a “stealer”). The rest - just "take an interest" in his opinion on this matter.

Another subtlety. The decision on belonging to any "suit" has the right to take only "looking" or "position". This is an authoritative prisoner, appointed to monitor compliance in the cell ("hut"), barracks, zone (and in that environment they say "in the prison", "in the zone", "in the camp") in the first case, by the general decision of the criminals located there, in the second - the criminal elite ("Thieves").
If a simple prisoner knows, for example, something defamatory about a newcomer, he must inform the others about it. And then decide what to do with him "looking" or "position". You yourself should not rush to conclusions regarding the “suit” of the guilty person.

Today, Zon phrases can often be heard everywhere: among young people who have nothing to do with the criminal world, from the lips of young mothers and the elderly, as well as from adolescents and even young children.

Why is thieves' jargon so popular these days?

The reason that Zon phrases are so in demand in everyday life today is the romanticization of prison life. You need to thank for this thug chanson, movies and books that show beautiful and strong personalities belonging to the criminal environment. Exactly at fiction and cinematic creations flourishes the realism of depicting life in places of deprivation of liberty or after release. Therefore, Zon's phrases fit into the works quite organically.

Why do young people use jargon in speech?

There are several reasons why young people actively use Zon phrases in their speech.

  1. Youthful nihilism that opposes " correct speech, makes teenagers talk in a way that annoys adults.
  2. The desire to appear stronger than it really is, “cooler” than their peers, pushes them to “play on the hair dryer” instead of the generally accepted and understandable speech.
  3. Deliberate rudeness in behavior and, of course, in conversations is a way to hide your youthful shyness and self-doubt from prying eyes. For example, the thieves' phrase "You will answer for the bazaar!" the young man warns that he should not be lied to, otherwise the one who lied will be severely punished. It is likely that the boy will not be able to do anything for lying. But the phrase itself, as it were, elevates him above the one to whom it is addressed.
  4. A kind of defense mechanism against unpleasant life situations- replacing common words with jargon. For example, if instead of the phrase “a place for the detainees to stay in the police station” we use the funny jargon “monkey”, then this partially removes the tragedy of what is happening, distracts from the cruel reality. Insulting a “radish” (a bad person) sounds somehow not offensive at all, but even to some extent ironic. It is much more pleasant than comparison with some animals or even waste products.

Where did prison vocabulary come from?

The thieves' environment needed a "coded" language. After all, it was not always possible to transmit messages confidentially. Using a special language understandable only to the initiated, one can, for example, agree on the place and time of the impending crime, on the number of participants, and convey some important details.

But create completely new language out of nowhere - a rather painstaking and complex matter. Therefore, we found the most affordable option. They used as a base for their slang language wandering merchants, who were then called ofen. Hence the name of the thug jargon. The phrase "Speak the language of thieves" sounds: "Bot on a hair dryer."

The dictionary of criminal slang includes many words from Yiddish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, English and other languages.

Do creative people need to learn the thieves' jargon?

Of course, you don't have to do this at all. Many people lived their lives quite happily without knowing a single word from the criminal dictionary. But for writers, journalists, screenwriters, it is simply necessary to know at least superficially some of the frequently used vocabulary of asocial elements. Otherwise, how to recreate realistic pictures of everyday life?

You can imagine for a second such an episode filmed in the film: two guys decided to pull a tape recorder out of the car. One of them says to his partner: “You will stay under the tree and make sure that no one prevents me from accomplishing my plan. In which case, signal the danger!

After that, he began to implement the plan. And suddenly the owner himself comes out of the entrance! Then the one who was left to watch shouts to the second: “Comrade thief, danger! We need to get away!"

The situation is understandable, but the irony lies in the absurdity of the presentation of the event, since criminals will never speak so long and correctly. Rather, the picture should look like this.

One of the thieves says to the second: “I went to work, and you remain on the lookout!” Briefly and clearly. And when the owner of the car appeared, standing on the nix, he shouted just one word: “Atas!” This will be enough to signal the approaching danger.

Law enforcement and criminal jargon

Well, these people without knowledge of thieves' vocabulary are simply nowhere. Investigators, taking testimonies of witnesses, write down what the latter heard. To understand what was discussed between the accomplices, it is necessary to be well versed in the slang of criminal elements.

“Vaska says to the bald man with whom they sat down in the kitchen to drink: “Tomorrow we will go to our ears. I have one in mind Bell pepper. Do not take feathers - we don’t need mokruha! Fat doesn’t blather anything - he, for one, knocks on everyone ... If we fail, you will answer for the bazaar!

This speech is translated as follows: “Tomorrow we will go to a robbery. I have a rich man in mind. Don't take knives - we don't need murder! Don’t tell Fatty anything, he’s completely deteriorated, I think he informs everyone to the authorities ... If we get caught red-handed at the crime scene, you, as if you were talking about plans, will be punished!”

By the way, for employees of law enforcement agencies, studying a jargon dictionary is a must. And in films about “cops” (policemen) and “opers” (operatives), such episodes are often found.

Some words from the dictionary of criminals

  • Authority - a thief in law, a respected person in the criminal world.
  • Alberka - syringe for injections.
  • Altushki, bashli, bobuli, cabbage - money.
  • The poster is a fat face.
  • Beach is a weak-willed person who has fallen into dependence on stronger ones.
  • Baba is an old man.
  • Huckster is a speculator.
  • Babets is an old aunt.
  • Babich - shirt.
  • Balagas - sugar.
  • Brothers - eyes.
  • Brod - street.
  • Vaydonit - yell.
  • Weyer - newspaper.
  • Wax - vodka.
  • Zhban - head.
  • Finch is a cowardly person.
  • Rat, rat house - stealing little things from his cellmates.
  • To spy - to peep.
  • A puddle is a sheet.
  • Turn the moon - deceive.
  • Oilers - cartridges.
  • Washer - stealing from drunks.
  • Radish is a bad person.
  • Bows, crabs, wings - hands.
  • Pheasant is a hoax.
  • Shement - quickly.
  • The skins are stolen.