wall'); also possibly from Malayan through Dutch: berapa means 'how much?' (what does it cost), now integrated in Dutch as : to pay. = discreet or imperceptible (perhaps from Hebrew betokh = within) = a small bell (from ) (or ) = to threaten. Possibly from Dutch: : to bark (like a dog). , from Romani = hunger, coll. = to be up for something. = coffee glass (literally 'bombshell') (literally 'to burn') = Extortion, but also to collect the "thieves' portion" with companions. The analogy between distilling spirits () and taking a good gulp of the portion () is obvious. Current status Variants of Rotwelsch, sometimes toned down, can still be heard among travelling craftspeople and funfair showpeople as well as among vagrants and beggars. Also, in some southwestern and western locales in Germany, where travelling peoples were settled, many Rotwelsch terms have entered the vocabulary of the vernacular, for instance in the municipalities of Schillingsfürst and Schopfloch. Some Rotwelsch- and Yenish-speaking vagrant communities also exist in Switzerland due the country's neutral status during World War Two. A few Rotwelsch words have entered the colloquial language, for example, , , and . or is very common in the Berlin dialect; is still used in German prison jargon. is also still used all around Germany. The Manisch dialect of the German city of Gießen is still used, although it was only spoken fluently by approximately 700-750 people in 1976. Code Josef Ludwig Blum from Lützenhardt (Black Forest) wrote from war prison: "[E]s grüßt Dich nun recht herzlich Dein Mann, viele Grüße an Schofel und Bock. Also nochmals viel Glück auf ein baldiges Wiedersehen in der schönen Heimat. Viele Grüße an Mutter u. Geschwister sowie an die Deinen." The censors allowed the passage to remain, apparently believing that Bock and Schofel were people. They were instead code words, ("bad") and ("hunger"), which hid the message that the prisoners weren't doing well, and that they were starving. In arts A variant of Rotwelsch was spoken by some American criminal groups in the 1930s and the 1940s, and harpist Zeena Parkins' 1996 album Mouth=Maul=Betrayer made use of spoken Rotwelsch texts. An example of Rotwelsch is found in Gustav Meyrink's Der Golem and reads as follows: See also Germanía Grypsera Lotegorisch Polari Yenish Notes and references References Further reading Sobota, Heinz. 1978. Der Minus-Mann, Verlag Kiepenheuer und Witsch. Wolf, S.A.: Wörterbuch des Rotwelschen. Deutsche