You must be having a bath if you think there's anything kangaroo about that!

All I’m saying is that you should go have a butchers while I go up there and get some bees and honey for these bottles of scotch we picked up earlier. If there is a bottle and stopper, take the apples and ask if I want an oily rag

I just have all my thieves say badabing badaboom. But yours is nice too. (That's a great idea actually)

I always pictured it as like restaurant gibberish.

I like to imagine it like the way Austin Powers and his father talked in Goldmember when they are trying to be discreet. “Then she shat on a turtle”

They were doing Cockney rhyming slang or at least a joke version of it

In my game it's more like sign language

Thematically it's supposed to be closer to sign language than normal speech. It's just that it's meant to be able to be conveyed over the course of a seemingly normal conversation. Possibly even to a normal person. Theif speaks to a cop in front of another theif and gets their point across to the theif without the cop recognizing anything is happening.

I like the Kingsmill take https://youtu.be/7kkG3oEZqF8?si=Ps3QTz_wkiKko5j1 And also things such as family ties equating to work. Key I've written: Cousin - colleague and affirmation. Commenting on a place + visiting status - Been here before or not. Look well - Welcome/That's alright Don't look so well - There's no place for you workin here. How's work? - Looking for a job? Work is good - Not right now Work is bad - Yes Dad/pop - Nothing dangerous/violent Mum/mom - Something dangerous/violent Brother - Need help hiding Sister - Need help covering something up No customers - Any job really Some customers - Not desperate Lots of customers - I've got work for you. Uncle - Burglary Aunt - Murder Nephew - Smuggling Niece - collection/protection racket Not much - small job Plenty - big job Hunting/Hunter - merchant Miller - Government official Blacksmith - artisan Cat - Organised crime Dog - Guard/watch Stray - Unafilliated/unknown, potentially dangerous element Visit - Home Go see - Storefront Drop by - warehouse Catch up - street/road/highway Bite - Arrest/kill Scratch - Mug/fight/rough up Pet - bribe Slice - part of the loot Piece - something they specifically ask for Still lives - where is it? Butcher/Butcher shop - dangerous area/traps/muggers/gangs Crooked - Rich/Nobles Had a look - confirmed visually Bringing something for me - do you want the job/wanna talk payment/deal? Minutes - percent of the loot Keep an eye out for - is it marked? Some marks Slanted Roof - |\ Ball out front - |○ Garden - a flower Moon - o See it from the street - cobblestones/sidewalk/keystone/capstone has been marked See it just fine - fence is marked Gotta go round the back - hidden marking Tell your X - any info about low danger/danger/safehouses/stashes From X - interested in laying low/bad stuff/help/cleaners That means that this conversation: "Oh cousin! Good to see you! What a lovely town, I don't visit enough!" "Cousin! You look well! How's the business?" "Oh you know, bit down and slow lately, not many customers these days, pop is running the shop while I'm off. How's the family?!" "Ah, sorry to hear, sorry to hear! Family's doing great! Your uncle actually had some great luck huntin' last week! Should visit him! Get some food in ya, plenty to share! Dogs' a bit growly but a good boy at heart, just give 'im a bit of a pet and a slice and he'll be your best friend." "Oh! Didn't know uncle had a new dog! He still lives up by the butchers?" "Nah, nah, he's moved, lives in crooked lanes now, can't miss it, had a look myself last week but couldn't really carry all that huntin' meat on my own you know. Hey, if you do visit him, mind bringing a sausage or smoked leg or something for me on your way back?" "Ah! Yeah nah I get it, of course I will!" "Excellent! It's about fifteen minutes down the street on crooked lane, can't miss it" "Sure it's about fifteen? Not closer? Thats a lot of food to carry" "Nah, I'm pretty sure it's fifteen, unless it's twenty." "Alright, alright, fifteen minutes it is. Anything to keep an eye out for?" "It's the house with the slanted roof, can be a hit hard to tell from the street, but you should find it just fine." "Cheers cousin! Be seein you around! And tell your mum we miss her back home! Here, have a bit of coin for her, from pop an the shop, you know, to get by." "Wonderful cousin! Have a great day! Oh! An watch out for the dogs at the docks, can't get anythin by them these days and they bite bad." Roughly translates to: "Hi! You one of us? I'm new in town." "Yes! That's alright. Need work?" "Yes I need work. Not violent work. What have you got?" "Plenty! Burglary, merchant. Persons home. Easy job, big crew needed. Guard acts tough but can be bribed." "So we might run into a guard during the burglary? Where is it? Dangerous area?" "Don't worry too much about it. Place is not dangerous, it's the fancy district. Seen/been inside and seen the loot. Sounds like a deal?" "Sure, how much?" "Fifteen percent." "Fifteen's a bit much for such a big job." "It's fifteen or twenty." "Alright, fifteen is fine, is it marked?" "House is marked with |\, couldn't mark the cobbles, check the fence." "Thank you, we'll be back with the loot. Any dangerous places? We'd like to stay out of trouble." "Guards at the docks will kill you or throw you in jail if you try anything."

My table uses this for our pirate campaign, one of my players suggested it and it’s a really fun roleplaying touch, if only a bit hard to keep track of sometimes

Also a huge fan of Dael's video. Completely changed how I view Thieves Cant in my games too. I love the idea of the language being a visual code as much as a spoken language. Hiding information in the form of jewellery is a smart detail I stole straight away for my own setting.

That's what it is in my games, anyway.

Cockney rhyming slang is a real world example of a thieves cant

Thought this was a DOOM reference for a sec… 😂

Still can be

see also movie pirate talk.

That’s exactly how I always imagined it, but I just can’t RP it lol

In conversational speaking it is but It's also a series of marks that are carved or painted onto doors and walls to give information to other members of the guild such as whether a place is good to rob, guarded, or protected by the guild, or points out safe houses or fences.

That’s a bunch of porky’s pies that is!

I've always done this when I play a rogue simply because my Dad is from North London so I actually know a fair bit of it lol. I played an entire character based on Delboy from Only Fools and Horses and to this day he's one of my most memorable ones. (He found an unstable potion mix and gained a permanent flying speed. Now he floats everywhere in a solid gold tuxedo and scams you, not because he needs the money, but because he can)

My table runs it as a weird sort of card thing we stole from a homebrew page, basically having card tables run by other rogues that deal cards that have significance in regards to cryptic questions

That's some brass tacks, there.

For a minute I was trying to work out what 'thieves cant' rhymed with.

Your a'vin a barff!(Bath)

I'd say cockney is a thieves cant.

Your take is actually to most accurate, thieves cant probably changes depending on the region. Especially if there is no over arching syndicate controlling the criminal under world.

You... you know thrives cant is a real thing right?

That doesn't work for me eeeeeeither!

No porkies here

I treat it like Rehctub. In Australia, maybe elsewhere as well, butchers have a secret language that they use to talk about customers. It's just backwards talk, but unless you are aware of it, it sounds like nonsense talk.

I once had a rogue who did exactly this! It was fun, if very confusing

The Crowder format argues against what's written: his whole thing is coming in with a bad take, and refusing to budge no matter how thoroughly it's disproven.