[wbill]

Um....I still use plenty of those terms. Wonder if that means I'm 50 years out of date.

Had to explain to a cashier what a sawbuck was the other day, though. Maybe I just answered my own question.....

[Doctor Stochastic]

I understood the entire lead in. I must watch (or read) too much crime fiction. I did know most of the words though. I just finished re-reading Raymond Chandler. (Next is probably Hammet or the complete Perry Mason.)

There are a couple of dictionaries about criminal and American slang; I'll try to look them up and post the authors.

Some of the cable-satellite channels (Mystery, TCM) run film noir a lot.