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There are several good dictionaries of canting, most long out of print and expensive but available at libraries. Farmer and Henley's encyclopedic _Slang and its Analogues_ , originally published in 1899, which is primarily Cant, was reprinted by Arno Press in 1970 in a huge paperback edition and should be easy to find. You might also be interested in another reprint, also edited by Farmer, _Musa Pedestries, three centuries of canting songs and slang rhymes (1536-1896). It was reprinted by Cooper Square from the 1896 edition in 1964. At 09:42 AM 12/30/2000 -0800, you wrote: >whomsoever- > >I am extremely intrigued by the idea of a list >dedicated to the discussion of poetics but I am rather >late to the party, so to speak. having had a nose at >Mark Weiss' mini manifesto is that the sort of thing >that goes on here? >>From my own point of view I prefer games to >manifesto's for this reason my main interest is in the >OULIPO? > >They were a group of writers and mathematicians who >were/are interested in the proposition that freedom in >literary creation isn't all that important. Far more >likely they conjectured that by imposing very strict >rules, as in the manner of a game, creativity would >escape from the shackles of the everyday, the super >ego or one's predecessors or whatever else one wishes >to escape from. An example of their method is a novel >by George Perec which does not use the letter "E" this >trick or trope gave the writer a perfect metaphor for >approaching the question of the disappearance of the >Jews in the holocaust. The OULIPO by their own >admission were not terribly interested in the >difference between prose and poetry rather what they >pursued was the adaption of rules (the stricter and >and more arbitrary the better) > >I wonder if there are any out there who feel like me >that this is incredibly rich vain of research, where >discoveries might be made, especially with the >addition that computer power might have to the >production of literature. To give you some idea of >where my interest lie here is a sample of my output, >such as it is > >The tale of Toby > >Once primest prigs would ogle old louse >trash with the never failing cantrip-blouze >But f’ the swinger swindler and foot pad >the decoys and bamboozles at the last go drab: >swindled on a crank’s blag or tout’s tip >or in bluff-gaff wi’ doxy gash clap. >A dawg like the slatten get ‘eir ‘ed stove in >And snooze cuff cured in pools of bludgeonin’, >This sham of slang this slum drawl is for slags >That humbug to old bogus hacks flog. > >So recant then but can’t? there’s a recanter everyday >can’t recant cant, while there’s betrayal to betray. > > >Almost all the words here are gleaned from the Oxford >English Dictionary and are in Cant a language now >defunct but once (so dictionary makers would have us >believe) spoken by thieves and tramps and prostitutes. >Most of the words that you aren't familiar with above >are synonyms for prostitute except cantrip which means >magic. Slag isn't Cant and I decided on a whim to use >it anyway. > >I hope it gives pleasure > >[log in to unmask] > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! >http://photos.yahoo.com/ > >