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.
Read more about this topic: Squeal
Famous quotes containing the word slang:
“Ive 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 (18881959)