"A C a day for a girl in oil for the heat" - What?

[mrghd]

(source: Iceberg Slim - Pimp, The story of my life)

the section that contains the expression:

"My four whores been humping at the Franklin since early this morning. I can't miss a five G score for the three days even with Angelo's thirty percent off the Top. Ain't but a C a day for a girl in oil for the heat."

Background:
Glass Top (a senior pimp) explains to Slim where and how his girls are working that night. He even tells his previous calculations about how much money he will earn with that.

'C' surely means 100 $ here, but what is 'for a girl in oil for the heat'?

[SoothingDave]

I can't imagine any situation where knowing the lingo of pimps would come in handy.

[mrghd]

I just read a novel (and consider translating it to my language) and I want to understand it fully -including all the slang expressions. They could be useful for example when you read other novels, see films with similar kind of characters or you listen to some kind of music. In addition I believe that the slang of a language is not less interesting and not less telling subject for linguistic and cultural research than high-brow literature.

As I proceeded with the book (that happens to be an autobiography of a pimp but imho reveals more about the society at that times than some scientific essays) I had many questions on this forum and got very satisfying answers for them. This got me closer to the beautiful logic of English language (I am not a native speaker) Thank You! Hope someone helps me with this one as well...

[mrghd]

(source: Iceberg Slim - Pimp, The story of my life)

the section that contains the expression:

"My four whores been humping at the Franklin since early this morning. I can't miss a five G score for the three days even with Angelo's thirty percent off the Top. Ain't but a C a day for a girl in oil for the heat."

Background:
Glass Top (a senior pimp) explains to Slim where and how his girls are working that night. He even tells his previous calculations about how much money he will earn with that.

'C' surely means 100 $ here, but what is 'for a girl in oil for the heat'?

Let me share you my interpretation then:

C= $100
heat=police
oil= substance that makes things go smoothly

That is: Glass Top has to give money to the police to prevent them from disturbing his prostitution business and the required amount is $100 /girl

This sounds plausible but I'm not sure. Any other ideas?

[5jj]

I thik that one reason not many people respond to your questions, mrghd, is that we don't understand the language ourselves. I look at your posts from time to time to see what suggested meanings come in.

I am a native speaker of BrE, and I have been known to read the odd Damon Runyan or other dated 'low-life' literature, but I couldn't begin to answer many of the questions you have asked.

[Grumpy]

They certainly didn't cover this sort of thing in my Sunday School... for which I am eternally grateful.

[mrghd]

I thik that one reason not many people respond to your questions, mrghd, is that we don't understand the language ourselves. I look at your posts from time to time to see what suggested meanings come in.

I am a native speaker of BrE, and I have been known to read the odd Damon Runyan or other dated 'low-life' literature, but I couldn't begin to answer many of the questions you have asked.

In general I am absolutely satisfied with both the quality and the quantity of the answers I got. :)

I know that it is not easy even for native speakers to interpret these quotations because it is written in a very specific subcultural language.

I also fully understand the reluctance that is caused by the subject matter of the novel. May be it does not shine through these quotations but Iceberg Slim himself is absolutely not proud of what he was and what he did. One of his main messages that while pimping may appear a glamorous and easy way of life to an outsider indeed it is not only mean and evil but also contains permanent life-danger and various kinds of suffering (jail-sentences, losing friends and relatives because of homicide or drugs, heroin-withdrawal etc.) In his last analysis: It's not worth to be a pimp. (and the cause of that there are not too much pimps confirming this is they usually don't live long enough.)

[5jj]

So long as some people are happy to help you, and have the ability to, keep posting.

[probus]

I agree with your interpretations.

A C a day would be a hundred dollars a day, a very large sum of money at the time. The heat means the police.