I Woke Next to the Corpse by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Page 133

Call box: A telephone randomly located on city sidewalks and used, in bygone days, by police officers to check in or to report crimes, emergencies, fires, etc.

Can: The bathroom or jail.

Canned: Intoxicated; tight; stewed to the hat.

Cheaters: Sunglasses.

Cheese it: To run or get away or to hide or put things out of sight.

Chesterfield: An upholstered sofa.

Chicago overcoat: Coffin.

Chill off: Kill.

Chin/chinning: Conversation, talking.

Chinese angle: A strange or unusual twist or aspect to something, as in “You’re not going to find a Chinese angle in this case.”

Chippy: A prostitute.

Chopper: A machine gun.

Christopher Columbus: Exclamation of surprise.

Chrome-dome: A bald headed man.

Chucklehead: Unintelligent person.

Chump: A stupid or foolish person.

Chump change: Small amount of money.

Clams: Money.

I Woke Next to the Corpse Page 134

Clobbered: Have a crush on.

Club fighters: Local professional boxers with mediocre fight records.

Coffin nails: Cigarettes.

Confidential lay: Working in confidence for someone else; a secret job.

Cook with gas: To do something right.

Cookin’ with helium: Dances well and fast.

Cooler: Jail.

Copacetic: Okay, fine, as in “She was copacetic with me.”

Cop it sweet: To accept a penalty/sentence/jail time without complaint or squealing.

Crate: An automobile.

Creampuff: A pushover.

Crikey: A mild oath.

Crumb: Jerk, no fun.

Cut a rug: Dance.

Cutter: A medical examiner or coroner; can also refer to a doctor generally.

Daily: A newspaper.

I Woke Next to the Corpse