Ever wonder what the six teeth on all Venetian gondolas signify? The answer lies in Venice’s six districts. Or why competitive eating contests strip chicken wing flats to form a “meat umbrella” for faster consumption? These are just two of the many secret languages uncovered in Ben Schott’s latest book, Significa: A Miscellany of Secret Languages.
A sequel to his 2002 work Schott’s Original Miscellany, this book dives into specific linguistic codes across diverse communities. Schott attributes the idea for Significa to a 1959 children’s book, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, by Iona and Peter Opie.
In his acknowledgments, Schott praises the Opies’ work, which surveyed thousands of British pupils to document their nicknames, code words, rituals, and social rules. He writes: “It takes seriously something usually dismissed as obvious or insignificant… and it pins the thorax of something usually disregarded as fleeting.”
Across more than fifty illustrated chapters—ranging from fonts to casino dealers, reality television, mall Santas, sommeliers, and Diamond District Yiddish—Schott illuminates over a thousand cultural terms. For instance, he explains “unicase” (when uppercase and lowercase letters share the same height) and “squatchee,” a test word for font designers.
The book also explores gym slang: “January Joiners” or “resolutionaries” (people who set New Year’s resolutions), “mirin” (admiring one’s physique in a mirror), and distinctions between being “cut,” “jacked,” “swole,” “yolked,” and “huge.” Crypto jockeys are described as succumbing to “hopium” (blind Bitcoin optimism) and “JOMO” (the joy of missing out on bad investments).
Foodies mock terms like “eat cutes” (influencers calling sandwiches “sandos”), “instavores” (those who post before eating), and “hipster vegans.” Meanwhile, non-sneakerheads learn that “bred” refers to a black-and-red colorway in shoes.
Spy terminology is also decoded: “mole” (first used by Sir Francis Bacon in 1622), “pavement artist” (street-level surveillance experts), and “eyewash” (fake internal information).
One chapter details British fox hunters’ battles with “sabbers”—saboteurs who spray eucalyptus oil to foil fox scent. Another covers London cabbies mastering “The Knowledge,” including the phrase “clock and a half” for tricking passengers into overpaying.
Schott’s Significa is not structured like traditional nonfiction. Its chapters follow no sequence, nor do they build on one another. Yet, the book reveals how subcultures develop jargons comprehensible only to their members.
As Schott writes: “It takes seriously something usually dismissed as obvious or insignificant.” For readers, this book is a journey well worth taking.
Significa: A Miscellany of Secret Languages by Ben Schott. Workman Publishing Company, 304 pages, $35.
Michael M. Rosen, an attorney and writer in Israel, is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Like Silicon From Clay: What Ancient Jewish Wisdom Can Teach Us About AI.