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(Jon sez:) 
Slang (such as calling the police "the silvers," or even calling the police
"the cops") is a part of every language. As time marches past, new words
appear and old words vanish. Some slang words eventually pass from slang
into the common vocabulary, while others strut across the stage and vanish
quickly.
By the time of our story, 2148, language would doubtless be full of strange slang and new commonplace words, all well suited to a society that has settled space and created advanced technologies. In our own time we can think of words that would have been puzzling around the time of the American Civil War - which is as far in our past as A Miracle of Science is in our future - but which are common today: Nanotech. Racism. Laser. Dynamite. Some other words have changed definition radically or added modern meanings: Computer. Program. Hardware. Plane. If I were to write the dialogue in MoS "realistically," it would be so full of neologisms and coined slang that it would be utterly indecypherable to anyone - including me, if I was completely honest. So I keep the coined words and SF gibberish to a minimum, confining myself as much as possible to usages such as the slang on this page, which is almost mandatory - can you imagine a mobster who didn't use slang? |
(Mark sez:) 
Halfway through finishing up today's experiment I pressed Jon for the name of the sleazy bar. He came back with "Cafe Sabella," named after Salvatore Sabella, who brought the mob to Philadelphia.
And that being said, in honor of mobbed-up characters throughout history I give you the Army Protection Racket Sketch. |
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