The Troubleshooter: The Most Dangerous Dame

by Bard Constantine

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  Glossary

  So you’re new in town. Yeah, I can tell. Well you’ve come by the right mug for the wire on this place. Don’t wanna stick out like a nun at a cathouse, do ya? Thought not. So you might wanna get down on the lingo around here. You probably guessed folks in New Haven speak a little differently than the other Havens. While this isn’t required reading, here’s a quick rundown you can reference in case you get a bit mixed up. That way if a mug tells you to rotate your heels or else he’ll fit you for a New Haven trench coat, then you’ll know what he’s gabbing about, pipe that? Here goes:

  Ace/chump/Killer /Mack: nicknames for a man

  Bag or tag: Nimrod terms for live or dead capture

  Barber: talk

  Bâtard: bastard

  Bent: angry, upset, out of sorts

  Berries/lettuce/cabbage/bread: money

  Bing ward: segregation cells, solitary

  Biogun: an expensive firearm powered by the user’s body via cables inserted in the forearm or into a holoband.

  Bioroid: term for humans enhanced by bio-genetic implants that expand the use of their brain beyond normal capacity.

  Bogart: a fedora

  Boozehound: drunk person

  Borgata: Mob, Mafia, organized crime family

  Bracelets: handcuffs

  Brass/feds/fuzz/button boys/boys in black: cops

  Broad: a woman, usually an unattractive one

  Bruno: bodyguard

  Bum: Useless

  Bunk: nonsense, foolishness

  Butter and egg, fat cat: rich, loaded

  Buy the farm/bite the big one: die

  Canary/songbird: female singer

  Capeesh: understand, comprehend

  Capo: Mafia boss, family head

  Cataclysm: a period of time when most life on Earth was destroyed by environmental and nuclear forces

  Cathouse: brothel

  Cement shoes: cement blocks poured around an unlucky sap’s feet. Once the cement cures, the sap is tossed in the river to drown.

  Chew: eat

  Chin music, skull music: the sounds made when someone is punched in the face or head

  Chin up: check out, investigate. Also means to talk.

  Chisel/flimflam/rib up: frame, set up

  Choppers, pearls: teeth

  Chopper squad/trouble boys: hired guns

  Climb your thumb: go to hell

  Clip/plug/rub out/smoke/zotz: kill

  Clip joint: high-class nightclub

  Coot/codger: old man

  Crab: cash out

  Crooner: male singer

  Crop: everything, all there is

  Daisy: effeminate man

  Dame/moll/dish/looker: nicknames for a woman, usually an attractive one

  Darb: good, excellent, high quality

  Datacom: a tiny earpiece synched to the holoband and used to make phone calls

  Down on the ups: when life sucks

  Dormy/laying dormy: laying low, hiding out

  Dibcard: a preloaded card for transferring dibs from one account to another

  Dibs: currency

  Dive/can house: low class restaurant or nightclub

  Drop a dime/sing/squeal: Snitch to the cops

  Duck soup/lead pipe cinch: easy

  Egg/noodle: head

  Evaporator: machine that instantly dries clothing, usually installed in doorways

  Elbows checked: arrested

  Feed the fishes/swim with the fishes: drowned or tossed in the river after death

  Fils de pute: bastard, son of a bitch

  Floater: flying automobile

  Flogger: trench coat

  Floozy/hussy/skater: a dame who likes to spread it around.

  Flophouse: hideout

  Focosa: hot-blooded, passionate.

  Frail: old woman

  Fuggetaboutit: an expression that covers a lot of different meanings.

  Gasper/smoke: cigarette

  Gems/peepers: eyes

  Giggle juice, hard juice: alcohol

  Glad rags: expensive clothing

  Gonzo/jingle-brained: crazy

  Goon/dropper/hardhead: hired thug

  Grift: con

  Grifter: con artist

  Grill/tighten the screws: interrogate

  Haven: city-sized constructs built to preserve life during the Cataclysm

  Hophead: drug addict

  Hosers/sky hosers: fire floaters deployed to extinguish flames

  Heap/can: vehicle, usually a wheeler

  Heat: pressure, usually from the brass.

  Heater/bean shooter/cannon: firearm

  Healed: packing a gun

  Heel-toe/dust out/breeze/rotate heels: leave, exit

  High pillow/high hat: high society, top dog, filthy rich

  Holoband: computerized instrument worn around the wrist, uniquely synched to the individual and powered the body’s energy. All personal information is stored in its databanks. Erases nearly all info upon the individual’s death.

  Hunter-killer/HK: flying drone deployed to lock on a target and destroy it

  Jaw/bump gums/gab/: talk

  Jamook: worthless, idiot, screw-up

  Labcoat: scientist

  Large: a thousand dibs, someone who’s loaded with cash

  Lead/slugs/heat: bullets

  Lead poisoning: to get shot

  Mandroid: humanoid robot

  Meat locker/slammer/cooler: jail

  Medimech: mechanical doctoring unit. Capable of dealing with most injuries that don’t require specialized surgery.

  Mech gun: mechanized firearm that fires specialized rounds

  Mug: man, or a man’s face

  Nance: effeminate man

  New Haven Blues: death

  New Haven trench coat: coffin

  Nimrod/triggerman: bounty hunter and assassin rolled into one

  Nix: cancel, quit

  No kick: no problem –I got no kick with that

  Omerta: Mafia code of silence/in-house management of problems

  On the square: dependable, trustworthy

  Oobatz: insane, wild

  Oyster fruit: pearls

  Perp: perpetrator, criminal

  Picjector: holographic entertainment system

  Pipe that: do you understand?

  Plug/clip/throw lead/clap/spit lead/fog/haze/hose/spray/squeeze off: shoot a gun

  Pro skirt/chippy/skater: prostitute, although ‘skater’ can also refer to a dame who gives it up easy

  Puttana: whore

  Rags: clothes, outfit

  Rube/mark/sap: sucker or patsy, someone easily rolled up on, although ‘mark’ can also mean a clue

  Scattergun: mech-powered shotgun

  Score: loot, payoff, important info

  Secret Service/SS: clandestine agency of the United Havens. Notorious for their ruthlessness and highly skilled agents.

  Shamus: detective, usually an inept one

  Shoot the woo: sexual relations

  Shylock: loan shark

  Skate around: sex with multiple partners

  Skel: short for ‘skeleton’. Reference to a good for nothing mug who is marked for death.

  Skid rogue: bum, loser

  Skimmer: hovercraft automobile

  Soldati: soldier

  Stiff: corpse, body

  Stoolie: snitch that takes bribes for info

  Streetsweepers: android storm troopers deployed to indiscriminately kill everything at a pinpointed location.

  Synoid: synthetic humanoid

  Tan aburrido: so boring

  Tesla cells: electromagnetic fusion battery units

  Thompson: mech-powered Tommy gun

  Ticker: heart

  Tip your mitts/spill: show your hand, give up the info

  Trip for biscuits: waste of time

  Troubleshooter: freelance o
perator. Duties vary, from investigation to protection to generally getting folks outta jams.

  United Havens/UH: Thirteen Havens located in the remaining territories of what used to be the United States.

  Vaquero: cowboy

  Wheeler: automobile

  Wire: information, news

  Yard: a hundred dibs

  Zio: term of affection, uncle

  You got the wire by now, right? Now get your mug onto the story before you get flimflammed into some jingle-brained grift and end up catching a case of the New Haven Blues, see?

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