Non qu’ils déboursent rien pour entrer, car ils font
Leur contre-marque aux gens qui sortent....
Richepin, La Chanson des Gueux.
Faire son nez, to look crestfallen, to look “glum;” —— son beurre, to benefit by; to make profits.
Il m’a assuré que le général de Carpentras avait plus de quatre millions de rente. Je gagne bien de l’argent, moi, mais je ferais bien mon beurre avec ça.—E. Monteil.
(Thieves’) Faire banque, to kill, see [Refroidir]; —— un poivrot, to pick the pockets or steal the clothes of a drunken man, “bug-hunting;” —— des yeux de hareng, to put a man’s eyes out; —— flotter un pante, to drown one; —— du ragoût or regoût, to talk about another’s actions, and thus to awaken the suspicions of the police.
Ne fais pas du ragoût sur ton dab! (n’éveille pas les soupçons sur ton maître!) dit tout bas Jacques Collin.—Balzac.
Faire la balle élastique, to go with an empty belly, “to be bandied.” Literally to be as light as an india-rubber ball; —— la console, or consolation, one of a series of card-sharping games, termed as follows, “arranger les pantres,” or “bonneteau,” “un coup de bonnet,” or “parfaite,” “flambotté aux rotins,” or “anglaise;” —— la bride, to steal watch-guards, “to buz slangs;” —— la fuite, la jat jat, la paire, le patatrot, faire cric, faire vite, to run away, “to make beef, or to guy.” See [Patatrot]. Faire la grande soulasse sur le trimar, to murder on the highway; —— la grèce, or plumer le pantre, to entice a traveller from a railway station into a café, where he is robbed of his money at a swindling game of cards; —— la retourne des baguenaudes, to pick the pockets of a helpless man, “to fake a cly;” —— la souris, to rob stealthily, “to nip;” —— la tire, to pick pockets, generally by means of a pair of scissors delicately inserted, or a double-bladed penknife, “to fake a cly;” —— la tire à la chicane, explained by quotation:—
Ils font la tire à la chicane, en tournant le dos à celui qu’ils dépouillent.—Du Camp.
Faire la tortue, to go without any food; —— le barbot dans une cambriolle, to steal property from a room, “to do a crib;” —— le bobe, to steal watches, “toy getting;” —— l’égard, to retain for oneself the proceeds of a robbery; —— le gaf, to watch, “to nark, to give a roasting, to nose, to lay, or to dick;” —— le lézard, to decamp, “to guy,” see [Patatrot]; —— le morlingue, to steal a purse, “to buz a skin or poge;” —— le mouchoir, to steal pocket-handkerchiefs, called “stook hauling, fogle hunting, or drawing the wipe;” —— le pantre, to play the fool; —— le rendème or rendémi, to swindle a tradesman by picking up again from his counter a gold coin tendered for payment, and making off with both coin and change; —— nonne is said of accomplices, or “jollies,” who form a small crowd so as to facilitate a thief’s operations; —— la balle à quelqu’un, to carry out one’s instructions.