The Language of the Mafia
Mobspeak is a language that grows out of secrecy, and who can be more secret than the Mafia? The anti-social nature of the Mob is the perfect breeding ground for an "Antilanguage," which is, according to M. A. K. Halliday, a language that develops out of an antisociety which stands as a mode of resistance' to the society within which it exists (Butler 1). In his 1976 article, Halliday suggests that in these societies, a type of language forms in an effort to exclude outsiders for various reasons. One striking reason for the existence of an antilanguage is to hide the activities of the group. Halliday gives evidence for this claim through the existence of Elizabethan thieves cant, a form of communication derived in the Calcuttan underworld that thieves use to speak to one another without fear of incriminating themselves. Similarly, the Mafia -- which is often the target of FBI wire-taps -- requires its own thieves cant. The Mob constantly tries to hide its activities from the authorities. One way to accomplish this goal is to use somewhat cryptic vocabulary. For instance, there are over twenty words for the verb to kill'. If someone were to disrespect The Family' somebody might do a piece of work on' him. He could get whacked, erased, burned, clipped, iced, or hit -- just to name a few.
In order to have a full understanding of the Mafia's unique use of language it is necessary to realize the context in which it is used. The Mafia's major business is providing "protection" for merchants in their territory. Basically, they insure that no other criminals will give any of their clients trouble. However, when anything comes under mob protection, the Mafia considers itself its "owner". They do not offer...
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Virtually everything the Mafia does has an impact on its language. Many defining characteristics of Mobspeak spawn from the illegal activities of the organization. They speak in codes due to a requisite for secrecy. The same applies in their unreserved overuse of profanity -- another way of expressing power. Their linguistic characteristics are a reflection of their roguish behavior and lifestyle. Overall, the language of the mafia is unique in that employs Halliday's ideas of an antilanguage in a modern sense.
Sources Cited
Butler, Todd. Exploring the Antilanguage of Gangster Rap. The Secol Review V. 19 (Spring 1995): 1-24
Le Vien, Douglas, Jr. and Juliet Papa. The Mafia Handbook. New York: Penguin Books, 1993
Pieggi, Nicholas. Wiseguy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986
Pieggi, Nicholas. Casino. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995
Organized crime in the United States keeps the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in a never-ending investigation of criminals suspected of the infiltration of legitimate businesses. A notorious twentieth century organized group was the New England Patriarca Mafia, or N.E.P.M.. Originating in 1915, the N.E.P.M. evolved over the early twentieth century decades, until 1954 when Raymond Loredo Salvatore Patriarca was donned as boss* and promptly began to expand its power. Due to mafia-related language that will be present throughout the paper, a page of definitions is supplied at the end of the paper. Defined words throughout the paper will be noted with an asterisk, “ * ”.
... Mafia, had helped criminals obstruct the justice system (10,13). It was claimed to be “impossible to get a jury of men courageous enough to try criminals” because of their power and ruthlessness (10,14). This prevented any violent criminals from being incarcerated and kept many of them on the streets to keep creating violence. Crime groups such as the Mafia run by Torrio controlled elections for their benefit, like in Cicero in April 1924, where gunman and mafia members stood outside election ballots to intimidate the voters (11,909). Criminals such as Dion O’banion, an Irish bootlegger, were treated as celebrities. When O’banion died in 1924, his funeral was attended by nearly 20,000 mourners (12,137). It was clear that due to the power and wealth that the illegal smuggling had given criminals, law and order was certainly at the mercy of organized crime (12,137).
The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia "family", oversees his daughter's wedding. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia Families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer. Being this only request Don Vito has turned down, displease Sollozzo and has the Don shot down. The Don barely survives, which leads ...
The word mob or mafia is a title that is often heard. When the name Capone is
The Mafia was first started in the ninth century, in Sicily. At this time, Arab forces were occupying Sicily. The natives were being oppressed, so they took refuge in the surrounding hills and formed a secret society to protect against the foreign invaders. This secret society was named Mafia, after the Arabic word for refuge. The society's intentions were to create a sense of family, based on ancestry and Sicilian heritage.
Research is a systematic process that ultimately leads to the development of new knowledge and solutions to problems or questions (Adams, 2012). Evidence-based practice is the use of the best scientific evidence available to support clinical decisions when caring for individuals or groups of patients (Santos, Pimenta, & Nobre, 2007). The connection between research and evidence-based practice is derived from the fact that nurses use solutions found in research to validate and refine existing nursing knowledge. As a result, nursing practice is impacted. (Adams, 2012). In addition, the goal for conducting nursing research is not only to improve patient outcomes, but also to provide credibility to the nursing profession through evidence-based practice (Adams, 2012). Therefore, research provides the foundation for the develo...
The Mafia way of life may seem like a romantic updated version of the western movie played out on the streets of the big cities where the good guys and the wise guys who share the same instincts and values do battle before an enthralled public but it is actually very different. The Mafia is really just a group of uneducated thugs making money by victimizing the public. Initially, the Mafia was setup as a prominent supplier of bootlegged liquor, but it has spread into many different areas of crime. During this research paper I will discuss three aspects of the Mafia which are crime, structure and decline in leadership.
The Mafia is a secret criminal organization that has great economic and political control over large parts of Sicilian society and operates both criminal and legitimate enterprises in the United States. It is believed to have started during Sicily's late Middle Ages, beginning as separate bonds of strong-arm enforcers hired by local landowners. It eventually evolved into a network of independent groups governing in rural areas. With the Sicilian immigration of the late 19th century, the Mafia began to operate in several large United States cities. During the period of Prohibition it monopolized the trade in bootleg liquor and controlled loan sharking, gambling, and prostitution. Competing Mafia families established mutually recognized territories, reaching agreement by negotiation or by intimidation. By the mid-1930 the Mafia had taken on the institutionalized structure that is now typical of organized crime in the United States.
Throughout American history there has always been some form of verbal acrobatics or jousting involving rhymes within the Afro-American community. Signifying, testifying, shining of the Titanic, the Dozens, school yard rhymes, prison ?jail house? rhymes and double Dutch jump rope rhymes, are some of the names and ways that various forms of raps have manifested. Modern day rap music finds its immediate roots in the toasting and dub talk over elements of reggae music (George, 1998)....
“I don’t trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.” This quote from The Godfather, which is famous for glorifying the Mafia, reflects the concerns of criminology within organized crime. Using ideas from Sutherland, Rawls and Nussbaum, one might argue that the relationship between organized crime and the governance relating to it plays a significant role and influence on society.
In the article, Promoting Evidence-Based Practice Through A Research Training Program For Point Of Care Clinicians, the authors state that evidence based practice is, “a problem-solving approach to clinical care that incorporates the conscious use of current best practice from well-designed studies, clinician’s expertise, and patient values and preferences” (Black, Balneaves, Garossino, Puyat, Qian, 2015, p.14). The nursing student should use evidence-based practice in order to make decisions about the patient's care plan. Using evidence-based practice while deciding how to appropriately care for a patient will ensure that the nursing student is using the most effective and current techniques. The nursing student should also use this standard to guarantee that they are providing the best care possible while still honoring the patient’s values and
In the study of macroeconomics there are several sub factors that affect the economy either favorably or adversely. One dynamic of macroeconomics is monetary policy. Monetary policy consists of deliberate changes in the money supply to influence interest rates and thus the level of spending in the economy. “The goal of a monetary policy is to achieve and maintain price level stability, full employment and economic growth.” (McConnell & Brue, 2004).
Within this essay Evidence based Practice will be identified and the significant effect it has on the nursing profession, barriers will also be explored in the implementation of Evidence Based Practice.
A nurse is required to be responsible and accountable, updating their knowledge and skills continually by using professional development (NMC, 2008). This requires an understanding and awareness of what Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is. Nurses make decisions about their practice using EBP. Ways in which this can be utilized in the improvement of knowledge and practice is, for example; using established sources of evidence. (Marquis et al, 2012). Nursing practice uses a range of approaches to improve and develop patient care so as a nurse the skill of evaluating sources of evidence is necessary to do this effectively. Evidence is gathered through research. EBP consists of research, data collection and nursing research. When searching for evidence to improve your practice the range of information available is vast. A distinction must be made between evidence that is reliable under scrutiny and evidence which is unreliable. Fitzpatrick (2007) asserts that, to understand evidence based practice is to understand where to look and what credible sources of evidence are. Sources that are credible include information published by a government body or academic institution. Fitzpatrick (2007) recommends identifying key aspects of information of the source to ascertain its credibility, for example; who is the author and where did the research come from? Is the article true or false and how long has it been there? (Fitzpatrick, 2007). A journal article is scrutinised by peers and editors and publishers, whereas in contrast a piece of information on a general website could be published by any person and make any claim and may not pass scrutiny under a peer review. Databases like EBSCO for example have articles that are peer reviewed.
Evidence based practice (EBP) is a key component in delivering cost-effective, high quality health care. [1] However, only around half of the care providers in the United States utilized EBPs. Additionally, nearly a quarter of services delivered to American consumers are unnecessary and potentially harmful. Today, educators are teaching and promoting evidenced based health care to future nursing professionals. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) supports this action as a means to achieve the objective that 90 percent of all medical treatments have a foundation in evidence based practices by the year 2020.