Thieves' Cant

This article deals with Thieves' Cant as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

"That long-tongued Knight of the Road should fall with the leaf; 'e's a right figure dancer, too. If we 'ent birds of a feather, I'd a chattered."

If the above sentence made no sense to you, go away. Thieves' Cant is a fairy tale. For the rest of you, look no further, you've found it. This is the article on the underworld's language.

Considering a dialect of Thieves' Cant in the traditional sense of the term is irrelevant, since, as the name implies, it is a variant itself. Thieves' Cant is a misbegotten child of whatever language it is based on, and evolved to suit the needs of various miscreants, lightfingers and footpads who work within that language, but would rather their missives be indeciferable. As such, it is techincally a cryptolect, and not a true language. That said, it's indeciferability and seperate vocabulary make this argot notable and distinct. It utilizes the same rules of grammar, spelling and verb usage as the language it is derived from, but substitutes a nearly unintelligable lexicon for the standard vocabluary of that language. In some respects, usage of Thieves' Cant is akin to Pig Latin.

Thieves' Cant, however, utilises words from within that language, rather than inventing new, or altering existing verbiage. Further, it intentionally ues them in such a way that the most innocent conversation may have an entirely double meaning running just under the surface. As such, it shares it's written component with the parent language, and often must be denoted to be in cant by some use of a thieves' sign. It is one of many cryptolects designed to conceal information simply, while preserving the ability of both parties to talk in a conversational manner, without additional requirement of visual or audible signals. Thieves' Cant is also remarkably easy to learn once the user has attained fluency in the base language, no harder than expanding the existing vocabulary. It has a number of mostly harmless uses in addition to it's intended purpose, including discussion of potentially rude or embarassing topics in a public forum, concealment of dissent against the government, and obfuscation of terms in a contract. It is, however, a very earthy, even brutish linguistic deviant, so it is not suitable for elegant use, being particularly poor in pitching woo.

Thieves' Cant may be used seamlessly in an IC environment, but where this language distinction is important, denote same by a different color or offset to the text. Converting the actual text to cant is not difficult, but likely to be confusing to other nations attempting to flip through the RP involved to bring themselves up to speed, and as such is not recommended beyond a few bits for effect. Often, particularly hackney or other obfuscatory dialects are mistaken for cant, but cant may be spoken accent-free, as if it were the standard manner of speaking in that language. The only historically well-known Thieves' Cant hails from England, though nations are encouraged to add their own as they wish.

Thieves' Cant Speaking Nations in NationStates