grift common?

[blackrockrose]

Sorry Alan, but I think I'm going to become a serial pest about common words turning up in 7-by-many, now my favourite version of Chi (although I'm not particularly good at it)

I've never heard of 'grift' (yesterday's 7-by-many GRATIFY game) and it appears to be US slang.

[mkenuk]

I think originally it was American, a corruption (no pun intended) of  graft (= 'cheat, swindle'), but I think it's become almost universally known now, thanks in part to classic films such as The Sting.
There was also an excellent 1990 film called The Grifters with a cast that included Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening, and the word was often used in the long-running BBC comedy/crime series Hustle .

[Jacki]

Definitely familiar with grift, grifter etc. A scam or a swindler, hustler etc

[blackrockrose]

I stand corrected 

[anona]

Well, me too. I didn't know it, though the more I let it float around in my brain I wonder if it's been raised before, linked to The Sting?

[TRex]

The word grift has frequently appeared in puzzles.

[Katzmeow]

I've come across it so often in movies & tv shows that I wouldn't blink an eye at it.

[mkenuk]

I watched The Sting again a few nights ago. One of my all-time favourites, I never tire of watching it.

I counted at least fifteen uses of grift / grifter / grifting  etc in the first 40 minutes or so, then I stopped counting.

[blackrockrose]

I'm beginning to feel as if I've been living under a rock for the last couple of decades. How could I have missed it? 

[Ozzyjack]

Was it a black rock, Rose? 

[Jacki]

You're funny - that made me laugh out loud!

[blackrockrose]

Definitely, Ozzyjack!

[Hobbit]

Very good!

[blackrockrose]

I'm proud to announce that, as a result of my expanded vocabulary thanks to Chi, I was able to find 'grift' when it recurred in yesterday's 7-by-many REFRIGERATE/FRIGATE game 

[mkenuk]

......and grifter as well, I hope!!