15 definitions by MTyeW23
"Though thou should bray a fool with a pestle in a mortar like oatmeal, yet will not his foolishness go from him." --Proverbs xxvii. 22
by MTyeW23 May 30, 2018
A gilpin is a term for "sucker" or "chump" that dates from as early as the 1910s but rarely appears in the modern century. Consider this line from
1) James Cagney's taxi driver friend in THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939): "To Long Island it's fifteen dollars for the wise guys, 30 dollars for the gilpins."
2) Cagney, upon realizing he was naive, says, "I was a such a gilpin."
2) Cagney, upon realizing he was naive, says, "I was a such a gilpin."
by MTyeW23 February 9, 2017
1)A confidence man/woman. The term was used by professional con artists in the 19th and 20th centuries to describe people in their profession. The Grifters, a 1963 noir fiction novel by Jim Thompson, portrayed a family of grifters who are all emotionally managed. . The characters describe being "on the grift" the way someone else might describe drinking and drugs. "I can stop any time I want," says Roy to his mother. .
2) (modern) A sell out in the political opinion world. This noun is increasingly used by progressives (and some conservatives) to describe people such as Candace Owens and other opinion makers whose conservatism is seen as facile and inorganic, born mostly out of of a need for corporate funding than actual convictions.
2) (modern) A sell out in the political opinion world. This noun is increasingly used by progressives (and some conservatives) to describe people such as Candace Owens and other opinion makers whose conservatism is seen as facile and inorganic, born mostly out of of a need for corporate funding than actual convictions.
1.) “As for working with a partner, he didn’t like that either. It cut the score right down the middle. It put an apple on your head, and handed the other guy a shotgun. Because grifters, it seemed, suffered an irresistible urge to beat their colleagues. There was little glory in whipping a fool—hell, fools were made to be whipped. But to take a professional, even if it cost you in the long run, ah, that was something to polish your pride.”
― Jim Thompson, The Grifters, 1963
2) "He used to be an original voice, but after meeting the Koch Brothers, the radio host underwent a personality change. Instead of nuanced analysis, he repeated well-worn right-wing talking points, causing his colleagues to suspect he had been corrupted into being a grifter.
― Jim Thompson, The Grifters, 1963
2) "He used to be an original voice, but after meeting the Koch Brothers, the radio host underwent a personality change. Instead of nuanced analysis, he repeated well-worn right-wing talking points, causing his colleagues to suspect he had been corrupted into being a grifter.
by MTyeW23 September 10, 2021
A person who manipulates three cards -- two red aces and a black queen-- on a flat surface, while barking at passersby to bet they can follow the queen (or "broad") as he moves her and the aces around. He is the most important member of the mob running Three Card Monte, a swindle posing as a game. Other members pose as players who make a show of winning and collecting big bets, which encourages suckers to bet money from their own pokes. . The broad tosser invites players to "chase the lady', before he executes his secret move, whereby he appears to throws the queen face down when in fact , he has exchanged it for one of the aces. The chumps follow the wrong card from the very beginning.
Rodrigo was a broad tosser who dressed like a loser and pretended he couldn't speak English; he attracted cocky, well-dressed men from Wall St. to bet -- and lose--- thousands on Three Card Monte every week.
by MTyeW23 May 30, 2018
by MTyeW23 April 21, 2022
A law-enforcement term for a hotel that hides its main purpose -- providing kinky rooms for brief trysts for, say, two cheaters or a john and his escort. Garage motels feign respectability by calling l themselves "hotels" -- yet they feature indoor garages and internal staircases to protect identities of visitors., making them more expensive than "regular" motels. Garage motels rent rooms which may include mirrors on ceilings and heart-shaped beds.
The FBI explained that the 2006 Brink's robbery in Miami became especially serious after one of the robbers was kidnapped and taken to a garage motel to be tortured in secret. Though the place called itself the Princess Hotel, they soon learned it was a garage motel that made a lot of money renting out discreet access to rooms for an hour at a time.
by MTyeW23 July 16, 2021
Blood as used by the main character, Alex, in Clockwork Orange, while speaking the author-invented argot Nadsat.
"And then, what do you know, soon our dear old friend, the red, red vino on tap, the same in all places like it's put out by the same big firm, began to flow." -- A Clockwork Orange
by MTyeW23 July 22, 2015