Lost Lingo, Part 8

Longtime B&Y readers know that I am intrigued by odd slang and other unfamiliar usages I come across in old movies.

Recently I was watching Twenty-Four Hours, a snappy little Pre-Code number that stars Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins (who, in her role as a nightclub nightingale, reveals herself one of the worst warblers ever captured on celluloid), and Clive Brook.

In one scene, some mobsters are roughing up a bartender at a speakeasy, trying to find who pulled the trigger on a hit outside the club earlier that evening.

The bartender protests, but finally the ringleader of the gang grabs him by the scruff of his neck, jabs a gun in his ribcage, and growls, "Listen, are you going to bleat, or ain't you?"

"Bleat" -- that's a new one on me, and I love it.