doing more than screw the fire escape at high school?

[mrghd]

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

the section that contains the expression:

"She giggled. I could hear the thrill in her voice. The horn blower had taken her off the track, but the whore was alive and thrashing inside her. She had class. She had done more than screw on the fire escape at high school."

Background:

Slim calls a girl on phone. She lives now as a wife of a trumpet-player but she is an ex-whore and Slim wants to win her to be his prostitute. After exchanging few words on the line, Slim got the impressions that the girl is not only still ready to get back in the prostitution business but even (if I am not mistaken) a relatively well-educated person.

The problem is a can't imagine what 'She had done more than screw the fire escape at high school' means...

[Grumpy]

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

the section that contains the expression:

"She giggled. I could hear the thrill in her voice. The horn blower had taken her off the track, but the whore was alive and thrashing inside her. She had class. She had done more than screw on the fire escape at high school."

Background:

Slim calls a girl on phone. She lives now as a wife of a trumpet-player but she is an ex-whore and Slim wants to win her to be his prostitute. After exchanging few words on the line, Slim got the impressions that the girl is not only still ready to get back in the prostitution business but even (if I am not mistaken) a relatively well-educated person.

The problem is a can't imagine what 'She had done more than screw the fire escape at high school' means...

This book is heavy going, isn't it?
Your difficulty with comprehension may lie in the fact that you have missed the "on" from the quoted passage. I would interpret the passage as meaning that the young lady in question had achieved somewhat more at high school than simply having sexual intercourse on the [presumably secluded] fire escape stairs.

You said some time ago that you were seeking to gain insights into certain aspects of Society through this book. From the passages quoted so far, I would guess that the only insights to be gained might be to the fevered imagination of the Author.

[mrghd]

You are right! It's 'screw on' and it is clear now. Thanks

Concerning sociology: Yes, the book is very interesting even from this respect. Of course I know that the Author shows one-sided picture sometimes (however it clearly can be felt that he strives to be as objective and 'real' as possible -but he's only human). Nevertheless there are some things that come to light from the novel independently from the intentions of the author. For example: Con games (e. g. the so called Murphy) they play at the beginning of the novel to get money from the 'suckers' appear ridiculously childish and primitive. I think nowadays they cannot earn a cent with such tricks. May be we all become more sophisticated in this respect since then?

[JMurray]

mrghd: you may be interested in a book called "The Big Con" by David W. Maurer, first published in 1940 and reprinted in 1999. Maurer was an authority on the lingo of "carnies, junkies, safe-crackers, forgers, pot smokers, faro-bank players, shell-game hustlers, race-track touts, pickpockets, moonshiners, prostitutes and pimps" and most especially con-men. His book deals with the world of the con-man and details the workings of many confidence tricks, from the simpler two-man short-cons to the most elaborate wire-store cons like the one in the movie "The Sting". It's a fascinating read and there's a glossary in the back, so, after Iceberg Slim it should be a breeze.