Le Carr

A key component of any Le Carre novel is its jargon--the trade terms used by secret service personnel. His invented spy lingo is so persuasive that it has convinced readers that spies actually talk that way. As a matter of fact, sometimes they do. According to their inventor, such Le Carre words as mole and honey trap have been co-opted by British and Russian spies; others are rapidly entering the language. Among them:

Angel: member of the opposing security service.

Babysitter: bodyguard.

Burn: blackmail.

Burrower: Circus research specialist.

Circus: London headquarters of the British Secret Service.

Cousins: the CIA.

Honey trap: counterintelligence snare with male or female sexual bait.

Housekeeper: internal security officers.

Joe: an agent or subagent.

Lamplighter: home-based courier servicing overseas supply or communications lines.

Leave in one's socks: run for it.

Mole: double agent who burrows into an enemy intelligence service.

Mother: very senior secretary.

Pavement artist: stakeout or tail.

Shadowman: secret-writing expert.

Shoemaker: Circus forger.

Smudger: Circus photographer.

Sound thief: specialist in eavesdropping techniques.

Turn: change the loyalty of an enemy agent.

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