AA Lingo

ONE NIGHT recently, at one of our beginners meetings, a newcomer asked me, "What's a pigeon?" Like many of us, she was mystified by AA's sometimes arcane lingo. When I told her what a pigeon was, and where I thought the term had come from, she suggested that someone write a glossary for AA newcomers. Here, with tongue slightly in cheek, is a first-edition guide to AA jargon. Pigeon: a newcomer who has hooked up with his opposite--a sponsor. (Possible derivation: "And you know what pigeons do to people.") In the jargon of con men, someone who is about to be taken. . .sober, we hope.