# 1930s slang from the hardboiled detectives > Twenty 1930s slang words and oaths quoted from Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, each explained, with a private eye’s office scene that opens in Plot. Twenty 1930s slang words and oaths quoted from Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, each explained, with a private eye’s office scene that opens in Plot. 1930s Recorded 1930 the bulls The police; detectives. “It’s those damned bulls again. They’re getting to be nuisances.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930)The Maltese Falcon ## Hardboiled detectives ### The words Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon put the speech of private eyes, cops and gunmen on the page. - the bulls“It’s those damned bulls again. They’re getting to be nuisances.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) The police; detectives. - bumped off Something Thursby was supposed to have on him when he was bumped off. (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Murdered. - fall-guy“We’ve got to have a fall-guy.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Someone made to take the blame for a crime. - sap“Don’t be a sap, Dundy.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A fool; someone easily taken in. - dope“Can you give me some dope on an ex-guest?” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Information; the facts about someone. - to pinch“You’re not ready to pinch me yet, are you, Dundy?” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) To arrest. - heater“Get up on your feet and go for your heater!” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A gun. - gunsel“Keep that gunsel away from me while you’re making up your mind.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Taken by readers to mean a young gunman, which is how it has been used since. In the underworld it had meant a young man kept by an older one. - punk“Let’s give them the punk.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A young hoodlum; a worthless kid. - dick“You’d think you wasn’t a dick yourself the way you bellyache over things.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A detective. - copper“It’s no crime to kid a copper, is it?” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A police officer. - on the level“You’re not so damned honest, and you haven’t been so much on the level with her, that she should trust you completely.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Honest; straight with someone. - chump And once a chump, always a chump. (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A fool; someone easily taken in. - dough“That’s a hell of a lot of dough.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Money. - hooey“Well, it was hooey.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Nonsense; a lie. - racket“What’s his racket?” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A line of work, usually a shady one. - to tail“Why were you tailing him?” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) To follow someone without being noticed. - come clean“Come clean. You know I’ll keep my clam shut …” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) To tell the whole truth. - to squawk“I won’t squawk—if you’ve got a search-warrant.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) To complain loudly; to make a fuss. - the works“You didn’t try to make a deal with him before you gave him the works?” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) The full treatment. From a crook, a killing. ### Swear words and oaths How people cursed, and the softer words they said instead, from the same dated sources. - by guess and by God“It’s just what I told you: you’re fumbling along by guess and by God.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Blindly, on luck and hope, with no plan at all. - the hell you don’t Tom said softly: “The hell you don’t.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) Flat disbelief: you certainly do. - I’m damned if I will“No, I’m damned if I will.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) A flat, angry refusal. - Jesus“Jesus, these women!” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, 1930) An exasperated oath, said mildly. The scene INT. KANE INVESTIGATIONS, SAN FRANCISCO - NIGHT (1931) Rain on the window. LOU KANE (40s) sits with his hat still on. VERA NASH (30s) shuts the door behind her. VERA The bulls were here? LOU Twice. Somebody got bumped off on Bush Street, and they need a fall-guy. VERA And you'd be the sap who takes it. LOU Not if I get some dope first. VERA The kid in the lobby has a heater under his coat. LOU The gunsel? Let him sit. If he moves, the bulls can pinch him. In print How often each word appeared in books, against its own busiest year.Shaded: when this era's sources recorded it. Busiest year bumped off 1932 fall-guy 1986 hooey 1933 [Counts from Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams) Recorded in - [Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930)](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77600) ### 1930s technology and props What had just arrived, what was still recent, and what a scene set in these years can't have yet. Each entry names the source that records its date, with a link to it. Dates are for the United States unless an entry says otherwise. 1. [1920: Radio broadcasts](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-radio-broadcast) 2. [1927: Talking pictures](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-talkies) 3. [1928: Police radio](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-police-radio) 4. [1939: Television](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-television) 5. [1945: Ballpoint pen](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-ballpoint) 6. [1950: Charge card](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-charge-card) 7. [1954: Color TV](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-color-television) 8. [1954: Transistor radio](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-transistor-radio) 9. [1956: Interstate highways](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-interstate) 10. [1958: Jet airliner](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/period-slang/1930s#era-1930s-objects-title-jetliner) Before 1930 #### Already there, still recent When it was new 1. 1920 Screens and sound Radio broadcasts Scheduled radio broadcasting begins: KDKA in Pittsburgh airs the 1920 election returns. [IEEE Engineering and Technology History Wiki, Milestones: Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA, 1920](https://ethw.org/Milestones:Westinghouse_Radio_Station_KDKA,_1920) Early in the decade a radio set is a novelty, and a family gathered around one is a scene in itself. By the 1930s it is furniture. 2. 1927 Screens and sound Talking pictures The Jazz Singer opens in New York with about two minutes of synchronized dialogue. The rest of it is silent, with title cards. [HistoryofInformation.com, The Jazz Singer, the First Full-Length Film with Synchronized Dialogue](https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=3522) A character at the pictures before late 1927 almost always watches a silent film with live music. After it, talking pictures are the novelty people line up for. 3. 1928 Police Police radio Detroit police dispatch patrol cars by radio. The cars can hear the station but can't answer it. [IEEE Engineering and Technology History Wiki, Milestones: One-Way Police Radio Communication, 1928](https://ethw.org/Milestones:One-Way_Police_Radio_Communication,_1928) A 1920s officer learns of a crime from a call box, a desk sergeant or a one-way radio. To talk back, he pulls over and finds a telephone. 1930–39 #### Arriving in these years On the page 1. 1939 Screens and sound Television NBC begins regular television broadcasts in New York as the World's Fair opens. [Early Television Museum, The 1939 New York World's Fair](https://earlytelevision.org/worlds_fair.html) Television in a 1930s scene is a demonstration at a fair or a rich household's toy, not something a family watches at night. After 1939 #### Not yet: keep these out of the scene On the page 1. 1945 Home and office Ballpoint pen The ballpoint pen goes on sale in New York, at $12.50. [Literary Hub, This Week in Literary History: The First Ballpoint Pen Is Sold in New York City](https://lithub.com/this-week-in-literary-history-the-first-ballpoint-pen-is-sold-in-new-york-city/) Before late 1945 an American character writes with a fountain pen or a pencil. 2. 1950 Money Charge card Diners Club issues the first charge card accepted at many businesses rather than one store. [Diners Club International, Our History](https://www.dinersclub.com/about-us/history) A 1940s character pays in cash, by check or on a store's own account. Handing over a card for dinner belongs to the 1950s and later. 3. 1954 Screens and sound Color TV RCA's first color television set, the CT-100, goes on sale. [Early Television Museum, RCA CT-100](https://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_ct-100.html) Color television in the 1950s is rare and expensive. A family watching at home is almost always watching black and white. 4. 1954 Screens and sound Transistor radio The Regency TR-1, the first transistor radio, reaches stores at $49.95. [Computer History Museum, Regency TR-1 transistor radio](https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102711690) A pocket radio at the beach or under the covers is late 1950s or later. Before it, a radio is a tube set on a table or a portable the size of a lunch box. 5. 1956 Getting around Interstate highways The Federal-Aid Highway Act starts the Interstate highway system. [U.S. National Archives, National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (1956)](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-interstate-and-defense-highways-act) Before the Interstates, most long drives run on two-lane highways through every town on the way, with a few four-lane toll turnpikes such as Pennsylvania's, open since 1940. The long, straight Interstate drive arrives over the decades that follow. 6. 1958 Getting around Jet airliner Pan Am flies its first Boeing 707 passenger service, New York to Paris, with a fuel stop in Newfoundland. [The Geography of Transport Systems, Boeing 707](https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter1/the-setting-of-global-transportation-systems/boeing-707/) An earlier transatlantic trip is a long propeller flight, often with a fuel stop, or days on an ocean liner. The jet age starts at the very end of the 1950s. Check a whole script for anachronisms Inkwell's Period Language skill reads your pages against the era you set. It flags words, objects and references that hadn't arrived yet and offers period alternatives as changes you can accept or skip. [See the Period Language skill](https://www.inkwell.software/skills/period-language) ### Make it yours in Plot Start with this example or bring your own draft. Develop the story, try another version, and keep the work you want. Opens as a new Plot project once you sign in or create a free account. Inkwell keeps this copy for 24 hours. [Download](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/writing-starters/period-slang?version=1930s) Field notes ## Writing dialogue that sounds like its time - ### Date the word, not the feeling Check every period word against a source from the time, not a list that sounds old. A dictionary entry or a published novel tells you the word was in use by that year. It does not tell you when it started, so a word recorded in 1859 can belong to a character in 1850, and probably not one in 1750. - ### Use less than you found One period word every few lines is enough to place a scene. A speech packed with slang reads like a costume. Let ordinary words carry most of the dialogue and save the slang for the moments a character wants to sound like they belong. - ### Make the meaning clear from the scene A reader or an audience never gets a glossary. Put the word where the action explains it: the stolen hat on the table before anyone calls it a rum nab, the sack of silver before anyone says swag. If a word needs a footnote, the scene is not doing its job yet. - ### Slang says who belongs Grose and Matsell recorded cant: the private language of thieves, meant to keep outsiders out. A character who uses it is in the gang, and one who misses it is not. Use that. The 1920s words did the same for a young crowd, the 1930s ones for detectives and crooks, the 1940s ones for soldiers and the teenagers they left at home, and the 1950s and 1960s ones for teenagers keeping their parents out. The 2000s words came from rap and the internet, and spread as fast as both. - ### Where to find more Dictionaries of slang and cant from the period, novels and plays written at the time, newspapers, and court records all show how people talked. Prefer sources written in the era over histories written later, and keep a note of where each word came from so you can check it again. - ### Hear it before you keep it Read the scene aloud, or hold a table read. Period dialogue that looks right can sound stiff when spoken. Cut what an actor trips on, and keep the version you like as a save point before you try another. ## Already have a draft? Bring your Word document or screenplay into Plot and keep developing it with save points and alternate drafts. [Import a draft](https://app.inkwell.software/projects?action=import) ## Related writing resources - [From premise to pages](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/film-treatment) ### [Film treatments, from first idea to final scene.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/film-treatment) [Read an original film treatment, see how it becomes scenes, and develop your own story with an editable treatment template.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/film-treatment) [Read the guide](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/film-treatment) - [Follow the stories inside the story](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/subplots) ### [A, B & C plots. One story that holds together.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/subplots) [Follow three connected storylines through a complete 12-scene example. Compare a missing B story with a revision that earns its ending.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/subplots) [Read the guide](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/subplots) - [Keep what catches your attention](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/commonplace-book) ### [A commonplace book for a mind at work.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/commonplace-book) [A practical commonplace book example and template for quotations, observations and connections, with a simple way to find and use what you collect.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/commonplace-book) [Read the guide](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/commonplace-book) - [A conversation worth staying for](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/book-club-questions) ### [Book club questions worth talking about.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/book-club-questions) [Choose thoughtful book club questions and download a ready-to-use discussion agenda for fiction, nonfiction or memoir.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/book-club-questions) [Read the guide](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/book-club-questions) - [Monologues to perform](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/monologues) ### [Monologues you can learn tonight.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/monologues) [Free audition monologues for teens and adults, comic and dramatic, plus two Shakespeare speeches. Each says who is speaking, what they want and what to play.](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/monologues) [Read the guide](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/monologues) --- Canonical page: