Glossary:
go limp — be a superb driver, and have no nerves at all, and know every trick of the trade and take no chances ...
Annex — an additional attraction of a side show or girl show for which an extra charge is made, usually a quarter.
Bally — a sample performance of a show given on a platform in front of the tent. The platform itself; the people in the sample performance.
Cake cutting — short changing.
Carny — a carnival or a carnival worker.
Cat rack — a game in which the player tries to knock dummy cats made of canvas off a fence.
Con — persuade a person to do something against his own interests after having won his confidence.
Cool out — convincing a mark that he has not been taken. The term comes from the big con games.
Cowboy — an obstreperous lout who comes on the carnival lot looking for trouble.
Front-worker — a confederate who mingles with the crowd and plays a gambling game, walking off conspicuously with a large prize or a fistful of dough. Formerly called a shill or a capper. Nowadays also called a stick, a term taken from gambling houses.
Gaff — also gimmick or “G”; a concealed device or secret method of operation on mechanical gambling devices.
Get up the nut — raise funds to cover the overhead and operating expenses.
Gorgio — (Romany) a non-gypsy.
Grift — dishonest practice. “That show really carries the grift” means, “That show has a lot of thieves traveling with it.”
Grind store — a game in which “everybody plays and everybody wins,” paying out small prizes. If it costs you a dime to play and the prizes cost the operator a dime a dozen he stands to make a profit automatically.
Hell driver — an auto daredevil. The term was apparently first used by Lucky Teter.
High pitch — to deliver the sales talk and demonstration from behind a high counter or on a platform.
Hoop-la — a game in which the player tosses embroidery hoops over blocks.
Inside talker — a lecturer and master of ceremonies, such as they are, in a side show.
Junker — an old car which an auto daredevil rolls over, jumps to land on its nose or otherwise demolishes.
Mark — a sucker; victim of a confidence man or swindler.
Mitt camp — the fortunetelling concession at a carnival.
Opening — the speech made outside a side show to attract customers.
Outside talker — the man who “handles the front” of a show, and makes the openings for the bally.
Pitch (verb) — to sell an article on the street or from the platform of a side show.
Prat in — pickpocket term; “to prat the mark in” means to jostle him into a favorable position by backing into him.
Running “strong” — a game that is run with the gaff in, that is, secretly controlled in favor of the operator.
Slum — cheap little knickknacks given away as prizes by a grind store or as minor prizes by other types of games.
Stick — confederate of a gambling joint operator who plays as one of the crowd.
Still date — a carnival engagement in a town under the auspices of a fraternal or veterans’ organization which furnishes the lot and sometimes the electricity in return for a percentage of the gate, usually 10 per cent.
Throwaway — when a game operator lets a member of the crowd win a large prize to stimulate business.
Tip — a crowd of customers gathered before the bally platform by the outside talker when he starts his “opening.”
Turn the tip — persuade some of the crowd to buy tickets and come inside.