LEADER 03261cam a2200469 i 4500001    284259
005    20240624132559.0
008    220525s2020    nyua     b    001 0deng  
010      2020015918
020    9781324005919 |q(hardcover)
020     |z9781324005926 |q(epub)
035    (DLC)  2020015918
035    (DLC)284259
042    pcc
043    n-us---e-gw---
040    DLC |beng |erda |cDLC |dDLC
050 00 PF5995 |b.P835 2020
082 00 437.009 |223
100 1  Puchner, Martin, |d1969- |eauthor.
245 14 The language of thieves : |bmy family's obsession with a secret code the Nazis tried to eliminate / |cMartin Puchner.
250    First edition.
264  1 New York : |bW. W. Norton & Company, |c[2020]
300    278 pages : |billustrations ; |c22 cm
336    text |btxt |2rdacontent
337    unmediated |bn |2rdamedia
338    volume |bnc |2rdacarrier
520    "Tracking an underground language from one family's obsession to the outcasts who spoke it in order to survive. Centuries ago in middle Europe, a coded language appeared, scrawled in graffiti and spoken only by people who were "wiz" (in the know)-vagrants and refugees, merchants and thieves. This hybrid language was rich in expressions for police, jail, or experiencing trouble, such as "being in a pickle." And beginning with Martin Luther, German Protestants who disliked its speakers wanted to stamp it out. The Nazis hated it most of all. As a boy, Martin Puchner learned this secret language through his father and uncle. Only as an adult did he discover, through a poisonous 1930s tract on Jewish names, that his own grandfather, an historian and archivist, had been a committed Nazi who hated everything his sons and grandsons loved about "the language of thieves." Interweaving family memoir with scholarship and an adventurous foray into the politics of language, Puchner crafts an entirely original journey narrative. In a language born of migration and hybridity, he discovers a witty and resourceful spirit of tolerance that remains essential today"-- |cProvided by publisher.
504    Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-259) and index.
505 0  Introduction: Language Games -- Camouflage Names -- The Book of Vagrants --  A Picture Comes into View -- The Rotwelsch Inheritance -- The King of the Tramps -- The Farmer and the Judge -- An Attic in Prague -- When Jesus Spoke Rotwelsch -- Igpay Atinlay for Adults -- The Story of an Archivist -- Judgment at Hikels-Mokum -- Error-Spangled Banner -- Your Grandfather Would Have Been  Proud of You -- Rotwelsch in America -- The Laughter of a Yenish Chief.
591    Record updated by Marcive brief record update service 24 June 2024
599    Shelved at 48-5-4
650  0 German language |xSlang.
650  0 Cant |zGermany.
650  0 Thieves |xLanguage.
650  0 Tramps |xLanguage.
650  0 Language policy |zGermany |xHistory |y20th century.
651  0 Germany |xLanguages |xPolitical aspects.
600 10 Puchner, Martin, |d1969-
600 10 Puchner, Martin, |d1969- |xFamily.
650  0 College teachers |zUnited States |vBiography.
655  7 Biographies. |2lcgft
852 0   |breceiving |kShelved at 48-5-4