Squeal - Terminology and Slang

Terminology and Slang

Slang terms for informants include:

  • cheese eater
  • dog — Australian. May also refer to police who specialize in surveillance, or police generally.
  • fink — this may refer to the Pinkertons who were used as plain-clothes detectives and strike-breakers.
  • grass or supergrass, — rhyming slang for grasshopper, meaning copper or shopper and having additional associations with the popular song, "Whispering Grass", and the phrase snake in the grass.
  • narc — a member of a specialist narcotics police force.
  • nark — this may have come from the Romany term nak for nose or the French term narquois meaning cunning, deceitful and/or criminal.
  • nose
  • pursuivant (archaic),
  • rat — informing is commonly referred to as "ratting."
  • snitch
  • snout
  • spotter
  • squealer
  • stool pigeon or stoolie
  • tell tale or tell-tale
  • tittle-tattle
  • trick

The phrase "drop a dime" refers to an informant using a payphone to call the authorities to report information.

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Famous quotes containing the word slang:

    I’ve found that there are only two kinds that are any good: slang that has established itself in the language, and slang that you make up yourself. Everything else is apt to be passé before it gets into print.
    Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)