Book VII

Slang

Origin

Pigritia is a terrible word.

It engenders a whole world, la pègre , for which read “theft,” and a hell, la pègrenne , for which read “hunger.”

Thus, idleness is the mother.

She has a son, theft, and a daughter, hunger.

Where are we at this moment? In the land of slang.

What is slang? It is at one and the same time, a nation and a dialect; it is theft in its two kinds; people and language.

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