Zonovsky phrases and expressions with translation

Why is thieves' jargon so popular now?

The reason that Zonov’s phrases are so popular in everyday life today is the romanticization of prison life. We have to thank for this the thieves' chanson, movies and books that show beautiful and strong personalities belonging to the criminal environment. It is in fiction and cinematographic creations that realism in depicting life in prison or after release flourishes. Therefore, Zonov’s phrases fit into the works quite organically.

Prison - quotes and aphorisms

Life is like a tram: whoever wants to ride in comfort, sits. Life is like a tram: usually men sit on it. Yanina Ipohorskaya

People are divided into two halves: those who are in prison and those who should be in prison. Marcel Achard

All that is known about this man is that he was not in prison, but why he was not in prison is unknown. Mark Twain

It's not the people in prison that worry me. I worry about people who are not in prison. Arthur Gore

Each person needs a special key - and, of course, a small separate chamber. Mieczyslaw Shargan

If England treats all her prisoners the same way she treats me, she doesn't deserve to have them at all. Oscar Wilde

Prison is a lack of space compensated by an excess of time. Joseph Brodsky

The further you go, the quieter you will be! Don Aminado. "New Russian proverbs"

How many good people have taken the path of correction! Vyacheslav Verkhovsky

If prison does not teach a prisoner to live in society, it teaches him to live in prison. Alan Bartholomew

There should be less prison in prison. Pavel Krasheninnikov, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation

There are no bad pubs and no good prisons. L. Tuning fork

Where do prison opponents put their opponents? Gabriel Laub

A passion for prison among those who struggle. Albert Camus

Hard labor creates a convict. Victor Hugo

Imprisonment is as irreparable and harmful as death. George Bernard Shaw

In places of detention, the only beneficial influence is the influence of the prisoners. Oscar Wilde

Where people are unjustly imprisoned, the true place for a just man is in prison. Henry David Thoreau

If you want to find out who your real friend is, try to go to jail. Charles Bukowski

A week in jail is a long time. In the wild - not enough. Erich Maria Remarque

People are divided into two halves: those. who is in prison, and those who should be in prison. Marcel Achard

Do this. whatever you think is right, but try not to go to jail. Ashley Brilliant

Whoever opens schools closes prisons. Victor Hugo

Since there are prisons and insane asylums, then someone must be in them. Anton Chekhov. "Ward №6"

Prison reform won't get very far until they put better people in prison.

On the road and in prison, friendship is always born and a person’s abilities are revealed more clearly. Aope de Vega

Prisoners are sick. Theodor Adorno

Virtue is a prison in which they would like to imprison the poor. Vlas Doroshevich

And prison is a good school, unless you are flogged, tortured, and if you know that your enemies imprisoned you and that like-minded people remember you in a friendly manner. Ilya Erenburg

The only place befitting an honest citizen in a lawless state is a prison. Henry Thoreau

Prison is a necessary thing for a writer. Whoever was not in prison did not serve the freedom of the press. Alexey Suvorin

To be arrested is recognition of your state services. Evgeniy Yevtushenko

They don't take anything useful out of the camp. There they teach flattery, lies, small and large meanness. Varlam Shalamov

In a criminal, prison and the most intensive hard labor develop only hatred, thirst for forbidden pleasures and terrible frivolity. Fedor Dostoevsky

Moral torment is heavier than all physical torment. A commoner going to hard labor comes to his own society, perhaps even more developed. He has lost a lot, but his environment remains the same. Fedor Dostoevsky

In life you must be prepared for the torment of imprisonment; After all, other times and the good sometimes share the fate of the evil. Charles Montesquieu

Why do young people use jargon in their speech?

There are several reasons why young people actively use Zonov’s phrases in their speech.

Youthful nihilism, which opposes “correct speech,” forces teenagers to talk in a way that irritates adults.
The desire to appear stronger than one actually is, “cooler” than one’s peers, pushes one to “use a hairdryer” instead of the generally accepted and understandable speech.
Deliberate rudeness in behavior and, naturally, in conversations is a way to hide your youthful shyness and self-doubt from prying eyes. For example, with the thieves’ phrase “You will answer for the market!” the young man warns not to lie to him, otherwise the one who lies will be severely punished. It is likely that the boy will not be able to do anything for lying. But the phrase itself seems to elevate him above the one to whom it is addressed.
A unique mechanism of protection from unpleasant life situations is the replacement of generally accepted words with jargon. For example, if instead of the phrase “a place for detainees to stay in a police station” one uses the funny jargon “monkey house,” then this partially removes the tragedy of what is happening and distracts from the cruel reality. The insult of a “radish” (a bad person) does not sound offensive at all, but even to some extent ironic. It is much more pleasant than comparison with some animals or even waste products.

About where prison vocabulary came from

The thieves' environment required a “coded” language. After all, it was not always possible to transmit messages confidentially. Using a special language that is understandable only to initiates, it is possible, for example, to agree on the place and time of the crime being prepared, the number of participants, and convey some important details.

But creating a completely new language from scratch is quite a painstaking and complex task. Therefore, declassed elements found the most affordable option. They used the argot of traveling traders, who were then called ofen, as the basis for their language. This is where the name of thieves' jargon comes from. The phrase “Speaking the language of thieves” sounds: “To talk about a hairdryer.”

The dictionary of criminal slang includes many words from Yiddish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, English and other languages.