Turning Supergrass

[Mojo]

From the context I assume that it means something along the lines of turning states evidence or becoming a stool pigeon. What exactly does it mean and where did it originate? Is it cockney rhyming slang (supergrass = CYA)?

[Larry_Mudd]

Your intuition about the rhyming-slang is correct-

grasshopper = copper

It’s usually just “grass” – “supergrass” is reserved for folks who actively, enthusiastically cooperate with the law, or volunteer information without being asked.

The term is so familiar that it was even punned on in schmaltzy tune, Whispering Grass.

Why do you whisper, green grass?
Why tell the trees what isn’t so?
Whispering grass, the trees don’t have to know, no, no

Why tell them all your secrets?
Who kissed there long ago
Whispering grass, the trees don’t need to know.

(Thanks to Linda Smith for providing the “Whispering Grass” connection in her wonderful BBC Radio 4 series A Brief History of Time-Wasting.)

I don’t half fancy Linda Smith, let me tell you.

[Larry_Mudd]

[sub]Let’s pretend that I didn’t omit the article in one of those sentences.[/sub]

Additionally, grass is usually used as a verb, although it works as a noun, too. Sort of like “snitch” in that regard, I guess.

Also-- No self-respecting crook would use the word “supergrass” – just “grass”. Nothing supa about them, if you follow me.

There’s a very good movie called “Supergrass” which stars Adrian Edmundson (from The Young Ones) as a non-entity who tries to get a girl (who’s totally uninterested) to go on a sea-holiday with him by trying to convince her that he’s “connected”, and he’s really going down to pick up a shipment of drugs. (She’d be purely “camoflage”) The cops get involved, (I forget how,) and he agrees to grass on his imaginary partners, if they’ll finance the trip. Hilarity insues.

[Mojo]

Thank you! If hilarity truly ensues, I may have to check it out.

[Northern_Piper]

“Supergrass” is particularly associated with the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It refers to accomplice testimony that is uncorroborated, but accepted by the court for a conviction. Since one turncoat’s testimony may be sufficient for a conviction, that person is a “supergrass”, not just a regular “grass”.

I don’t know if special legislation was used to amend the common law requirement for corroboration in the case of accomplice testimony. I seem to recall that such legislation was needed for the Northern Irish courts, but this passage from Question Period in the Irish parliament suggests that it’s always been part of the common law in the Republic of Ireland:

Mr. Cooney: I should explain to the Deputy that the term “supergrass” is a slang term for a type of evidence which has been part and parcel of our legal system as long as we have had a criminal legal system. It is what is referred to as the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice. That is evidence which is admissible in circumstances where the court must be very circumspect and extremely careful about how it is received. It is admissible evidence under our legal system.

“Supergrass” testimony is viewed with suspicion by the courts, because of the potential for a miscarriage of justice, as indicated by this news report relating to the Irish Court of Appeal overturning a “supergrass” conviction:

… the court had gone on to convict Ward solely on the basis of the evidence of a “supergrass”, i.e. a person who was both an accomplice and a person to whom State favours were being accorded in return for giving that evidence.

See also this article: Why Collins Died.