Cant

The cant is the particular form of slang popular in Sigil in particular, but it's spread through much of the Outlands and other Outer Planes.

A

• addle-cove: An idiot.
• Anarchist: A nickname for a member of the Revolutionary League.
• anthill: A city or town.

B

• bang around: To spend idle time in.
• bar that: A nearly-polite way of telling someone to shut up, or not to talk about a subject.
• barmy: Insane. Barmies are typically those who have been "touched" by the impossible infinities of the planes.
• basher: Neutral reference to a person, although often a thug or fighter.
• berk: A fool, especially one who should know better.
• birdcage: A cell or prison.
• Bleaker: A member of the Bleak Cabal.
• blinds: Anything impossible or hopeless, referring to the dead ends of the Mazes.
• blood: An expert or professional. A mark of high respect.
• bob: The business of cheating someone out of something.
• bone-box: The mouth, named because of the teeth inside it. "Stop rattling your bone-box."
• box: A rogue modron who has taken up residence in Sigil.
• brain-box: Someone's head, usually not in a complimentary way. "Go soak your brain-box" is a common idiom.
• bub: Booze, usually the cheap sort.
• bubber: One who imbibes bub: a drunk, especially one who has fallen on hard times.
• burg: Any town smaller than Sigil, either in size or in spirit. (The towns in question may disagree with Cagers' assessment.)

C

• The Cage: A nickname for Sigil (q.v. birdcage), since there's no way in or out except through one of the Lady's portals.
• Cager: A native or resident of Sigil.
• canny: Smart or talented.
• case: The house where other location where someone lives. Has a positive connotation.
• the chant: The news, facts, local gossip. "What's the chant?"
• Chaosmen: A nickname for the Xaositects.
• chiv: A weapon, usually with a blade.
• Cipher: A nickname for a member of the Transcendent Order, because most folk don't know what they're talking about.
• The Clueless: Typically a nickname for Outsiders from the Prime Material plane, since they don't know how the planes work. Although often derided by planars, they are also afforded a degree of respect: primes often need to possess a certain degree of power to make their way to the planes.
• conies: Victims of cony-catchers.
• cony-catchers: Con-men, tricksters, or thieves.
• cross-trade: The business of thievery, or anything else illegal.
• cutter: Can refer to anyone. Implies a certain amount of resourcefulness or daring. An ad asking for a couple of cutters is more complimentary than the same ad asking for a couple of bashers.

D

• dark: A secret. "Here's the dark of it": I have a secret I'm going to share with you.
• The Dead: A nickname for the Dustmen.
• dead-book: Someone in the dead-book is dead.
• deader: Someone who is in the dead-book.
• Defier: A nickname for members of the Athar.

F

• feeding the Wyrm: Executing a prisoner. Specifically, a unique execution carried out by Mercykillers.

G

• garnish: A bribe.
• ghost: A prime who visits the planes via astral spell. Often considered cowardly by planars. The term "cord baby" is also infrequently used.
• give 'em the laugh: To escape or slip through someone's clutches.
• give the rope: A hanging. This term is typically only used by thieves.
• go to the Mazes: A way of telling someone to go away, and that you wish them harm as well.
• Godsmen: A nickname for the Believers of the Source, since they believe everyone has the potential to become a god.
• graybeard: A sage or scholar, referring to the stereotypical image of a wizened old man.
• gully: A gullible person. A potential victim of a peel.
• Guvner: A nickname for the members of the Fraternity of Order. As they're the faction responsible for making laws, they govern Sigil.

H

• Hardhead: A nickname for members of the Harmonium, who are not known for being particularly flexible in their views.
• The Heartless: A nickname for the Fated.
• high-up: Powerful. Can refer to someone with money and influence, or a spell, or anything with a lot of measurable power. It's bad form to use this to refer to yourself: it's a term others bestow.
• hipped: Stranded. "Hipping the rube" is stranding someone by sending them through a one-way portal.

I

• Indep: A nickname for members of the Free League, due to their independence from most faction concerns.

J

• jink: Coinage. More generally, money.

K

• kip: Anywhere you can rest for a night, especially cheap flophouses. Quality innkeepers get annoyed if you call their place a kip.
• knight of the post, knight of the cross-trade: A thief. A cheat or liar. Usually not complimentary.

L

• lann: To tell or inform. q.v. well-lanned.
• leafless tree: The gallows.
• leatherhead: Dull or thick-witted. An idiot.
• lost: Dead. "He got lost" means he's not coming back without a resurrection.
• The Lost: A nickname used for the Athar.

M

• Madmen: A nickname for the Bleak Cabal.
• mark: To make note of something.
• The Mazes: The demiplanar punishments used by the Lady of Pain. More symbolically, any well-deserved punishment.
• minder: A bodyguard. Someone who "minds your business." See also: The Minders' Guild.
• music: A price you don't want to pay, but have to anyway.

N

• nick: To attack, cut, or strike someone, usually part of a threat. "I'll nick you if you don't back off."

O

• out-of-touch: Beyond the Outer Planes. A fairly Sigil-centric term.
• out-of-town: In the Outlands. Like the above, a fairly Sigil-centric term.
• Outsider: A Clueless prime who doesn't know how the planes work.

P

• park your ears: To eavesdrop, spy, or just listen intently.
• peel: A swindle, con, or trick. Often used as a verb.
• peery: Suspicious.
• pike it: A useful, all-purpose phrase, suggesting what physical action someone could potentially do with a pike.
• pike off: To anger someone. "She's really piked off."
• plane-touched: A planar crossbreed, the offspring of a planar native and (usually) a human. Tieflings, aasimar, and genasi qualify, as do alu-fiends and cambions.
• planewalker: A plane-travelling adventurer, someone who travels the planes looking for adventure, glory, or fortune. Usually a term of respect.
• put in the dead-book: Dead, with the implication that it was a deliberate act.

R

• The Red Death: A nickname for the Mercykillers.
• ride: An adventure or task.
• rube: A naive or clueless person.

S

• scan: Look, listen, or learn.
• scragged: Arrested or caught.
• screed: A monotonous tirade, or someone who gives one. Someone who speaks at length without any real knowledge.
• Sensate: Nickname for members of the Society of Sensation.
• Signer: Nickname for members of the Sign of One.
• Sinker: Nickname for members of the Doomguard.
• sod: An unfortunate soul. Used to show sympathy, or sarcastically for those who got themselves into their own mess.
• sodding: A derogatory term used to express magnitude. A berk is bad enough; a sodding berk is amazingly stupid.
• sparkle: Any gem. Specifically, a diamond.
• spellslinger: A wizard or other arcane magic user.
• spiv: An individual who lives by his wits rather than a regular job.

T

• Taker: A nickname for one of the Fated, based on their greed.
• Thought guild: An unflattering term to refer to factions by those who don't subscribe to their philosophies.
• top-shelf: Great or best. Derives from the most expensive items being kept out of reach, on the top shelf.
• tumble to: To understand or figure out.
• turn stag: To betray someone; to use treachery.
• twig: To take a liking to.

W

• well-lanned: Connected or blessed with numerous friends, allies, and informants.
• wigwag: To chat or talk.

Y

• the yawn: The state of being bored.

Background Information

• Cant is based on "the extremely colorful slang of thieves, swindlers, and beggars in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries."