http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif[LEFT]http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif[/LEFT]
[B]Hustle Homepage[/B]
Episode Guide
Characters & Actors
Backstage
Games
Con Jargon
Photo Gallery
Quizzes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gifhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif
Contact Us
http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif
[SIZE=6]Con Jargon[/SIZE]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/d47b0fd87bf3b6bf19ec2fa775fcf3b7158a8ff8.jpg
Do you know what ‘a mark’ is? What would you do with a ‘cackle-bladder’? Get the low-down on the world of the con and the jargon used in Hustle.
[ul]
[li]‘The mark’ is the intended victim of the planned con.[/li]
[li]A ‘short con’ refers to taking ‘the mark’ for all the money he has on his person. It’s an opportunist scam that isn’t pre-planned to any great deal.[/li]
[li]A ‘long con’ or ‘big con’ refers to a more complex, planned con, whereby ‘the mark’ is sent to get more money or used to get more money than is just on his person.[/li]
[li]‘Putting him on the send’ is another term for a ‘long con’ or ‘big con’.[/li]
[li]The ‘big con’ is a form of theatre - “staged with minute naturalistic illusionism for an audience of one who is enlisted as part of the cast”.[RIGHT]http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/1a089eb9fed266cb4996c6ac2d09dc958f4a8d57.gif[/RIGHT][/li]
[li]‘A mark’ is lured in by the conman by, in the first instance, by making money himself on one of their scams. Having gained ‘the mark’s’ trust, the conmen ‘sting’ him for a load of money.[/li]
[li]There are two types of con settings, real life (ie. restaurants and hotel rooms) and ‘The Big Store’, where empty offices are rigged out to look like a real life setting.[/li]
[li]‘The Roper’ is the ‘Outsideman’ - the man who identifies with ‘the mark’ (the victim) and gains their confidence.[/li]
[li]‘The Insideman’ is the key player, the member of the con mob who stays near the ‘big store’ and receives ‘the mark’ (the victim) whom ‘The Roper’ brings.[/li]
[li]‘The Manager’ manages the outfit and is often the bookmaker for the group.[/li]
[li]‘Extras’ are unemployed conmen playing the role of extras in the con.[/li]
[li]‘Putting up the mark’ refers to the process of locating a well-to-do victim.[RIGHT]http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/7935f033f177c3ae9d4ecae4922071dbc2e7fbdf.gif[/RIGHT][/li]
[li]‘Playing the con for him’ refers to gaining the victim’s confidence.[/li]
[li]‘Roping the Mark’ refers to steering him to meet the ‘insideman’ who will eventually fleece him.[/li]
[li]‘Giving him the convincer’ refers to the process of allowing the victim to make a substantial profit on the first scam, thereby gaining his trust.[/li]
[li]‘Blowing him off’ refers to the process of getting the victim out of the way as quickly as possible.[/li]
[li]‘Putting the fix’ refers to forestalling action by the Law.[/li]
[li]‘Playing a man against the wall’ refers to conning a man in a real setting, eg. a hotel room.[/li]
[li]‘Cackle-bladder’ is a method of faking the death of one of the conmen. It involves filling a small receptacle with chicken blood which the conman conceals on his person for the fake gunshot.[/li]
[li]If ‘the mark’ ‘beefs’ then he’s gone to the Police to grass up the conmen.[/li]
[li]‘The Fix’ refers to the cooperation bought from the Police. A Fixer usually has political connections and is paid off by the conmen for fixing people in the banks, police, and the courts. Most con mobs can’t exist without ‘Fixers’. [/li]
[/ul]