If you’ve ever read or played through Planescape, they have what they call the “Chant”. With that said, I’d ignore that part of thieves’ cant and just keep it the same throughout the world to make it easy on you and the table. Thieves’ cant would be a unique ‘language’ in each locale and group, though that does make it rather problematic to GM for if you make it so that players only know thieves’ cant in X and Y city, since they share a similar border, but can’t speak it in Z city even though they have similar jargon but a different cultural undertone for the thieves. This phrase would be completely meaningless outside of that city and in a place, like the desert, where that would hold no meaning for people. In one city in my world, I use “How’s Your Paddle?” as a general greeting that doesn’t mean anything but came about because there is a large canal where a lot of people used to paddle their boats across. In addition, this jargon and slang is going to be different depending on where you are. This is all that thieves’ cant is - jargon and slang that says one thing, but means a completely different thing. While you may know a few of the slang above, like ‘lam’, you probably don’t know all of it or be able to put it all together when you overhear it. Easy money.”Īs you can see in our example, if you overheard the conversation - you pry couldn’t make sense of what the two individuals are talking about. ”The small creature (typically kobold, gnome, or ratfolk) will take them down to the sewers for disposal - and you will get 2,000 gold pieces. ![]() ”No, I have a killer (specifically one who uses a knife) - they like to go wild/crazy on guards/the watch.” “Since you are out of jail right now, how about you help me rob a place?” ”The squeak will take ‘em on water life - and you’ll get a couple of tons of crackers. ”Out of print? I can’t away for gloom bound.” ”Nah, got a sticker - they lam on mudders.” ”And the warblers? Give ‘em a bunch of fives?” “Since ya on break, how about a box-top?” Thieves’ cant, on the other hand, is speaking in jargon and slang, but dialing it up until you can’t even rely on context clues to help you understand what they are saying. Of course, with our jargon and business jargon, we can eventually understand what the other person is talking about from context clues. This can also be applied to other cliques and groups, like businessfolk using synergy or how they have a bunch of SMEs which could mean Subject-Matter Experts or Small-to-Medium Enterprises depending on who you are talking to. People who play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons are quick to talk about newbs at the table, bouncing d20s, rolling THAC0, Vancian casting, dump stats, beholders, mind flayers, dungeon masters, min-maxers, powergamers, SAD and MAD, and plenty of other jargon that other people not exposed to this hobby would have no understanding of. With that said, we can easily see that people and sub-groups commonly make their own slang and jargon that is impenetrable for an outsider to understand without slowing down and explaining what they mean. In addition, if there were actually thieves’ cant, we don’t know for certain that the words that have been recorded were actually used and not just fiction conjured by an author. While we have a starting point around 1530 CE with Samuel Rid claiming it was invented by “cozenings, knaveries and villainies” to hide their illegal activities, we don’t really know if it was truly utilized. The history of thieves cant is a bit hard to pin down. You know slang, you’ve heard people use it around you, and sometimes you don’t understand a single thing that someone just told you even though you are one-hundred-percent certain that that person spoke all words that you know. This is like modern-day slang, and I’m not about to say something that is immediately going to get me cast as an out-of-touch old guy, I’m slightly smarter than that. With that understanding of cant, it makes perfect sense why we call it thieves’ cant - rogues say one word, while meaning a completely different one. ![]() It has something to do with thieves, which is obvious from its name, but what exactly is a cant? For those who don’t know, cant means “to talk hypocritically” (Merriam-Webster) - so basically, you say one thing but mean another. Part of its problem, though, is that at first blush, you probably have no idea what it is.
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